Mate in 3: king to f3 (g2)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 1912 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 h4, pawn g3 h3.
Black: king g2, pawn g6 h6.
3 white and 3 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 51.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 2 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h4, the black king on g2.
It is Black to move on move 51, with 8 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c, d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
51... Kf3 52. g4 Kf4 53. g5 hxg5#
Why it works
- Great move! king to f3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: king to f4 (#1).
- Strong! pawn to g5 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead g4, then Kf4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 51… Kf3 — king to f3
- 52. g4 — pawn to g4
- Kf4 — king to f4
- 53. g5 — pawn to g5
- hxg5# — pawn to g5 (capture) 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.
Zugzwang
Any move worsens the position — force the opponent to move.
Zugzwang is a position where every move the opponent makes hurts him: passing is not allowed, and all his options make things worse. Look for it when his pieces are tied to defensive duties — ask yourself what he could answer to a quiet move of yours. If every reply drops something, you have found the zugzwang. Remember: the winning move here is not a check or a capture but a calm waiting move.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 014
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