Mate in 3: knight to e5
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1508 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black 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 f3, rook f1, bishop b7, pawn f2 g2 a3 e3 g3 c4.
Black: king e6, rook d2, knight d3, pawn h6 a7 f7 g7.
9 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (14 against 12; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f3, the black king on e6.
It is Black to move on move 26, with 27 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c, e.
The Black king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26... Ne5+ 27. Kf4 g5+ 28. Ke4 f5#
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: pawn to g5 (#1).
- Strong! pawn to f5 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kf4, then g5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 26… Ne5+ — knight to e5 with check
- 27. Kf4 — king to f4
- g5+ — pawn to g5 with check
- 28. Ke4 — king to e4
- f5# — pawn to f5 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Pawn mate
The humblest soldier delivers the final blow.
The pawn mate lets the humblest soldier land the final blow. It happens to a king stuck among its own and enemy pieces: the pawn strikes diagonally from one square away and there is nowhere left to run. The sign: the squares around the king are covered or occupied, and your pawn stands one step from striking distance. Never write pawns out of your attack — their blows are the cheapest and therefore the most humiliating.
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.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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