Mate in 3: pin on f3
li-0LIe2Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 1950 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.
A pin freezes a piece in front of a more valuable one behind it. Scan the ranks, files and diagonals your bishop, rook or queen controls: if an enemy piece cannot move without exposing its king or queen, it is pinned and can be piled on or bypassed.
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, rook a5, knight g3, pawn g2 h3.
Black: king g6, rook b2, knight e1.
5 white and 3 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 64.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (10 against 8; 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 g6.
It is Black to move on move 64, with 22 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 0. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c, d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: g, h.
The Black king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
64... Nf3+ 65. Kh1 Rb1+ 66. Nf1 Rxf1#
Why it works
- Great move! knight to f3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to b1 (#1).
- Strong! rook to f1 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kh1, then Rb1+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 64… Nf3+ — knight to f3 with check
- 65. Kh1 — king to h1
- Rb1+ — rook to b1 with check
- 66. Nf1 — knight to f1
- Rxf1# — rook to f1 (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.
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).
Pack 014
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads