Mate in 3: queen to c7 (d6)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1832 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 h2, queen d6, knight d5, pawn b3 h3 a4 c4 e4.
Black: king d8, queen f7, bishop d7, knight d4, pawn c5 e5 h6 a7 b7 g7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (17 against 21; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h2, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 30, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
30. Qc7+ Ke8 31. Qb8+ Bc8 32. Qxc8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c7 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: queen to b8 (#1).
- Strong! queen to c8 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Ke8, then Qb8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 30. Qc7+ — queen to c7 with check
- Ke8 — king to e8
- 31. Qb8+ — queen to b8 with check
- Bc8 — bishop to c8
- 32. Qxc8# — queen to c8 (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.
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 013
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