Mate in 3: fork on f7 (h5)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 2063 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A fork is one piece attacking two targets at once. Look for a knight, pawn or queen move that lands where it hits the king (or a bigger piece) and a second undefended unit on the same turn — the opponent can save only one.
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 h5, knight g5, pawn c2 g2 h2 a3 d3 g4.
Black: king g8, queen d6, rook e8, bishop b2, pawn b5 c5 d5 a6 h6 g7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (18 against 23; 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 g8.
It is White to move on move 32, with 22 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, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32. Qf7+ Kh8 33. Qxe8+ Qf8 34. Qxf8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f7 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: queen to e8 (#1).
- Strong! queen to f8 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kh8, then Qxe8+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 32. Qf7+ — queen to f7 with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 33. Qxe8+ — queen to e8 (capture) with check
- Qf8 — queen to f8
- 34. Qxf8# — queen to f8 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Corner mate
Driven into the corner, the king runs out of squares.
The corner mate catches a king driven into the corner, where it has only three neighboring squares — all of them taken away or blocked. The corner is the worst home for a king, because the attacker needs to control the fewest squares there. Herd the king toward the corner with checks and never let it slip back toward the center. Cut off the escape routes before the final check, and the mate practically assembles itself.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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