Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g5 (c1·6)
sf-u-0044naming tag (square·N)The tactical motive
Uncastled king: the enemy king is stuck in the centre — punish it before it castles.
Mate in 3: a forced sequence that ends in checkmate.
Chess960 twist: use the unusual starting setup of the pieces.
Difficulty 1630 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king d1, queen c1, rook a3 f7, bishop a2 g3, knight d5, pawn b2 c2 e2 h3 d4 g4 a5.
Black: king d8, queen c8, rook a8 e8, bishop c6 h8, knight c7, pawn b5 c5 d6 g6 a7 h7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. Qg5+ Bf6 21. Qxf6+ Re7 22. Qxe7#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Well found: queen to f6 (#1).
- Precise: queen to e7 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Bf6, then Qxf6+ and you win the bishop.
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.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 013
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