Mate in 3 Puzzles: Developing Level

By the numbers

mate in 3 puzzles at developing level: the numbers

There are 62,230 mate in 3 puzzles at developing level, solved 269,106,571 times in total. The median rating is 1389.

Often combined with

Checkmate · 62,230Middlegame tactics · 31,646Endgame tactics · 29,685Sacrifice · 29,340Kingside attack · 12,184Back-rank mate · 10,228Attraction · 9,655Exposed king · 7,213Fork · 5,242Deflection · 5,206

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 833Italian Game · 492French Defence · 423Queen's Pawn Game · 318Scandinavian Defense · 305Scotch Game · 266Caro–Kann Defence · 263Ruy Lopez · 228

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 developing level (3.2% of all 62,230).

100% need 3 solver moves. Median rating: 1388 for the shortest solutions, 1388 for the longest.

47.9% open with a queen move. The first move captures in 41.2% and gives check in 96.8%; 100% end in checkmate, 56.4% involve a sacrifice, 51.3% 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: f7 (18%), h7 (8.4%), h6 (7.4%), g6 (7%), e7 (4.7%).

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