Mate in 3: rook to g3 (f3·3)
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The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 2145 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 g2, queen e2, rook d1 d8, knight e3, pawn a2 b2 c3 g3 g4.
Black: king g8, queen h6, rook f3 f8, bishop g7, pawn e4 g5 a6 b6 c7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 27 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g2, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 35, with 34 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): d, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
35... Rxg3+ 36. Kxg3 Be5+ 37. Kg2 Qh2#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g3 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: bishop to e5 (#1).
- Strong! queen to h2 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kxg3, then Be5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 35… Rxg3+ — rook to g3 (capture) with check
- 36. Kxg3 — king to g3 (capture)
- Be5+ — bishop to e5 with check
- 37. Kg2 — king to g2
- Qh2# — queen to h2 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Supported queen mate
The queen delivers mate face to face, protected by a friend.
The supported queen mate is the most common pattern of all: the queen lands next to the king and mates because a friendly piece or pawn protects her. The king is helpless — capturing is impossible, and the queen covers every neighboring square herself. Hunt for a protected square beside the enemy king: a knight, bishop or pawn eyeing it turns her invasion into mate. Verify one thing — that the square really is defended, or the king eats her.
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.
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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