Mate in 3: bishop to a6
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 938 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
In a mate in three every move must be forcing; the defender should never get a free tempo. Find the check or threat that herds the king, calculate the single defence to each, and confirm the net closes on the third move.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king g1, queen e2, rook a1 f1, bishop b5, pawn b2 f2 h2 c3 f3 a4 d4.
Black: king c8, queen d7, rook d8 h8, bishop g3, knight f5 c6, pawn d5 f6 c7 g7 h7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (29 against 33; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 19, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
19. Ba6+ Kb8 20. Qb5+ Ka7 21. Qb7#
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to a6 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: queen to b5 (#1).
- Strong! queen to b7 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kb8, then Qb5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Ba6+ — bishop to a6 with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 20. Qb5+ — queen to b5 with check
- Ka7 — king to a7
- 21. Qb7# — queen to b7 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Supported queen mate
The queen delivers mate face to face, protected by a friend.
The supported queen mate is the most common pattern of all: the queen lands next to the king and mates because a friendly piece or pawn protects her. The king is helpless — capturing is impossible, and the queen covers every neighboring square herself. Hunt for a protected square beside the enemy king: a knight, bishop or pawn eyeing it turns her invasion into mate. Verify one thing — that the square really is defended, or the king eats her.
Mate in 3
A forced checkmate in three moves.
Mate in three is a forced staircase: each of your moves narrows the opponent's choices, and the third one ends the game. Look for the start among checks and sacrifices — quiet first moves are rare in mating problems, but deliciously sneaky. Keep the tree in your head: every defense gets its own branch. Do not stop calculating after move two — see the final mating picture with your own eyes.
Relative pin
A piece shields a more valuable one behind it — moving it loses material.
In a relative pin the piece shields not its king but something valuable behind it, usually the queen. Moving is legal but costly, because the piece behind falls. Look for three units on one line: your long-range piece, a cheaper enemy piece, and an expensive one hiding behind. Beware the classic trap — a relatively pinned piece can still move with check or a bigger threat, so verify before you cash in.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 005
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