Mate in 3: pawn to h5 (h7)
li-0X9oYnaming tag (square·N)The tactical motive
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Difficulty 2172 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
Black to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king g4, rook c7, pawn f4 h4 g5.
Black: king e6, rook a3, pawn g6 f7 h7.
5 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
Solution & explanation
Main line
35... h5+ 36. gxh6 f5+ 37. Kg5 Rg3#
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to h5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: pawn to f5 (#1).
- Strong! rook to g3 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead gxh6, then f5+ and you stay on top.
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.
Rook endgame
The most common endgame — activity decides everything.
The rook endgame is the most common of all: rooks and pawns on the board. Its first law is activity — a rook behind a passed pawn beats a rook passively babysitting one. The sign of a correct plan is that your rook is attacking something, not guarding something. The typical error is locking your rook into defense: it is often better to give up a pawn and keep your rook and king active.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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