Mate in 3: rook to c3 (d3·2)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 2171 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 b3, queen e6, rook a1, bishop c1, pawn a2 c3 b4 f4 g5 f7.
Black: king b8, queen e2, rook d3, bishop e3, pawn e4 a6 b7.
10 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (23 against 20; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b3, the black king on b8.
It is Black to move on move 32, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c, f, g.
The Black king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32... Rxc3+ 33. Kxc3 Qd3+ 34. Kb2 Bd4#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: queen to d3 (#1).
- Strong! bishop to d4 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kxc3, then Qd3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 32… Rxc3+ — rook to c3 (capture) with check
- 33. Kxc3 — king to c3 (capture)
- Qd3+ — queen to d3 with check
- 34. Kb2 — king to b2
- Bd4# — bishop to d4 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.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
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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