Mate in 3 Puzzles: Advanced Level

By the numbers

mate in 3 puzzles at advanced level: the numbers

There are 15,249 mate in 3 puzzles at advanced level, solved 62,140,831 times in total. The median rating is 2130.

Often combined with

Checkmate · 15,249Middlegame tactics · 9,008Sacrifice · 7,281Endgame tactics · 5,955Attraction · 3,605Kingside attack · 2,929Exposed king · 2,921Discovered check · 1,804Double check · 1,259Deflection · 1,219

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 283Italian Game · 166French Defence · 140Queen's Pawn Game · 127Caro–Kann Defence · 74Scandinavian Defense · 68Indian Defence · 67Queen's Gambit Declined · 55

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical mate in 3 solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 mate in 3 puzzles at advanced level (13.1% of all 15,249).

100% need 3 solver moves. Median rating: 2130 for the shortest solutions, 2130 for the longest.

40.2% open with a queen move. The first move captures in 30.1% and gives check in 92.4%; 100% end in checkmate, 50.2% involve a sacrifice, 54.2% have White to move.

How many moves does the solver need?

Which piece plays the key move?

What does the solver win?

Material balance along the whole line, counting every capture by both sides (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9):

How much is left on the board?

How it is counted: every puzzle in the sample is replayed move by move with a chess rules engine. A sacrifice means a piece that is captured on the very next ply and was worth more than what it captured itself (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9). Sample of 2,000 puzzles. Percentages are shares of the sample.

Where it happens

Where the key move lands

Where the solver’s first move ends, drawn from their own side (rank 1 is their back rank). Busiest squares: g7 (8.8%), h7 (7.3%), f7 (6.8%), g6 (5.4%), h6 (5.2%).

Counted from the same 2,000-puzzle sample. Squares under 1% are left blank.