Think This Is Too easy?

This situation seems ridiculously easy. The black king is in such a dire situation that defeat is inevitable – but – can White mate in just three moves?

Roll over to see the solution: 1.g8=N b5 2.Ne7 Kxb4 3.Nc6

FEN: 5B2/6P1/1p6/8/1N6/kP6/2K5/8 w

25 Responses

  1. rithika
    rithika at

    it can be solved in just 2 moves
    1. g7-g8=Q b6-b5
    2. Qg8-g1

    Reply
    1. Alex
      Alex at

      That’s stalemate not checkmate.

      Reply
    2. v.g.sehkar
      v.g.sehkar at

      that is slate mate not check mate

      Reply
  2. Anonymous
    Anonymous at

    1. g7-g8=Q, b6-b5
    2. Nb4-d3 , Ka3-a2
    3. Bf8-c5, Ka2-a1
    4. Qg8-a8 #

    Reply
  3. bis
    bis at

    Just move the night and its checkmate

    Reply
  4. sib
    sib at

    Promote pawn to queen and bring it to a1

    Reply
  5. Adam
    Adam at

    That’s a pretty devious puzzle. I actually found it much harder than most of the historical ones on previous pages.

    Reply
  6. dylan
    dylan at

    i can’t seem to understand the different between a stalemate and a checkmate. black has no moves after q-g7, which is 2 moves- but it’s stopped as a stalemate rather than checkmate- despite white’s ability to continue moving.

    Reply
    1. Derek
      Derek at

      Stalemate mean king is not in check and has no legal moves

      Checkmate means king is in check and has no legal moves

      Reply
  7. Nobel George
    Nobel George at

    Excellent puzzle. Promote to Knight (N)!!! Could never think in that angle.

    Reply
  8. ChessFTW
    ChessFTW at

    couldn’t find a way to do checkmate in 3 moves, but found stailmate in 2;

    1. g7-g8=Q b6-b5
    2. Qg8-e6

    Reply
  9. BBChess
    BBChess at

    That was a good puzzle.

    I ended up with one of the four-move mates:
    1. g7-g8=Q, b6-b5
    2. Nb4-d3, Ka3-a2
    3. Nd3-c1, Ka2-a1
    4. Qg8-g7#

    That far from the king, promoting to knight for the quickest mate is definitely not something that immediately comes to mind!

    Reply
  10. koolkd
    koolkd at

    can not be done in 3 moves. In 4 moves, yes but not 3. If you can do it in 3…. show me!

    Reply
    1. d-lom
      d-lom at

      1. g7-g8=N b6-b5
      2. Ng8-e7 Ka3xb4
      3. Ne7-c6#

      Reply
      1. 1. g7-g8=N b6-b5 2. Ng8-e7 Ka3xb4 3. Ne7-c6#1. g7-g8=N b6-b5 2. Ng8-e7 Ka3xb4 3. Ne7-c6#1. g7-g8=N b6-b5 2. Ng8-e7 Ka3xb4 3. Ne7-c6#
        1. g7-g8=N b6-b5 2. Ng8-e7 Ka3xb4 3. Ne7-c6#1. g7-g8=N b6-b5 2. Ng8-e7 Ka3xb4 3. Ne7-c6#1. g7-g8=N b6-b5 2. Ng8-e7 Ka3xb4 3. Ne7-c6# at

        nice

        Reply
  11. Harry
    Harry at

    1.g8=N b5 2.Ne7 Kxb4 3.Nc6 Touch “roll over to see the solution” at the top of the page. The solution is there, and yes mate in 3 moves.

    Reply
  12. Leo
    Leo at

    1.Nd5+ Ka2
    2.Nc3+ Ka1
    3.Ba3 b5
    4.Bb2#

    Reply
  13. han
    han at

    1. Nb4-d3+ Ka3-a2
    2. Nd3-c1+ Ka2-a1
    3. Bf8-a3 b6-b5
    4. Ba3-b2#

    Reply
  14. Roland
    Roland at

    An amazing 3 move puzzle! Probably the hardest on this website. I expected it involved an underpromotion after everything else seemed to require at least 4 moves, but certainly couldn’t find the repeated knight move, blocking a check, and sacrifice. Really astonishing.

    Reply
  15. Hasnain
    Hasnain at

    1. Nb4-d3+ Ka3-a2
    2. Nd3-c1+ Ka2-a1
    3. g7-g8=Q b6-b5
    4. Qg8-g7#

    Reply
  16. Yash
    Yash at

    1. g7-g8=Q, b6-b5
    2. Qg8-g7, Ka3-a2
    3. Qg7-b2#

    Reply
  17. graham
    graham at

    too good for me brilliant puzzle

    Reply
  18. AD
    AD at

    Move king to sacrifice pawn. The rest is history.

    Reply
Leave a Reply

Note: Comments are moderated. It may take up to 24 hours for your comment to be published.

Leave a Reply