Mate in 3: fork on f7 (f5)
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The tactical motive
Deflection: force the defender to abandon its post.
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 2274 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Deflection drags a defender away from its duty. Identify the enemy piece that guards a key square or mate, then force it to move — with a check, a capture or a threat it must answer — and strike where it no longer defends.
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 f5, rook e7, bishop b3 d6, pawn a2 f2 d5 g5 h6.
Black: king g8, queen h4, rook e8 f8, bishop h8, knight e1, pawn c5 a6 b7 f7 h7.
10 white and 11 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 (25 against 30; 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 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, c.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32. Qxf7+ Rxf7 33. Rxe8+ Rf8 34. Rxf8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f7 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: rook to e8 (#1).
- Strong! rook to f8 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Rxf7, then Rxe8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 32. Qxf7+ — queen to f7 (capture) with check
- Rxf7 — rook to f7 (capture)
- 33. Rxe8+ — rook to e8 (capture) with check
- Rf8 — rook to f8
- 34. Rxf8# — rook to f8 (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.
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.
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).
Pack 015
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