Mate in 3: deflection on f2
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The tactical motive
Deflection: force the defender to abandon its post.
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1480 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Deflection drags a defender away from its duty. Identify the enemy piece that guards a key square or mate, then force it to move — with a check, a capture or a threat it must answer — and strike where it no longer defends.
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 g4, rook e1 e2, pawn a2 b2 f2 g2 h2 c3.
Black: king h8, queen f7, rook e8 f8, pawn c5 d5 b6 a7 g7 h7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 25 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on h8.
It is Black to move on move 22, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: f.
The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
22... Qxf2+ 23. Rxf2 Rxe1+ 24. Rf1 Rexf1#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f2 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to e1 (#1).
- Precise: rook to f1 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Rxf2, then Rxe1+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 22… Qxf2+ — queen to f2 (capture) with check
- 23. Rxf2 — rook to f2 (capture)
- Rxe1+ — rook to e1 (capture) with check
- 24. Rf1 — rook to f1
- Rexf1# — rook to f1 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
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.
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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