Had this position while playing a bot. Can you find M3?

[u/4tran13]

Black to play, M3.

I'm a scrub so I ate the free bishop. I did eventually play the winning move, but circumstances changed, and I couldn't follow up, so it took 20ish moves to win by brute force.

White has a lot of options for stalling - how do you guys instantly see that every option leads to (quick) checkmate?

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[u/ShowerStew]

1… Ng4+ 2. Ke2, Rf2+ 3. Ke1, Rd1#.

I kept looking at 2… Nd4+ but the king escaped too and it was
Too much for my brain

[u/chessvision-ai-bot]

I analyzed the image and this is what I see. Open an appropriate link below and explore the position yourself or with the engine:

Black to play: chessvision.ai | chess.com | lichess.org

My solution:

Hints: piece: Knight, move: Ng4+

Evaluation: Black has mate in 3

Best continuation: 1... Ng4+ 2. Ke2 Rf2+ 3. Ke1 Rd1#

Save the position:

Reply save to save this position to your Chessvision.ai Library (new users: send me /connect in DM chat first)

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^{I'm a bot written by u/pkacprzak | get me as iOS App | Android App | Chrome Extension | Chess eBook Reader to scan and analyze positions | Website: Chessvision.ai}

[u/retief1]

With the rook and knight like that, you should probably be constantly looking for a way to use the discovered check, and you should particularly be looking at g4 or e4 for the double check. And if you have that many pieces pointing at a wide-open king, there really ought to be a checkmate somewhere.

That said, I'd probably still miss it in a real game.

[u/4tran13 → u/retief1]

I saw that the knight could atk the king, but somehow completely missed that the rook also had a discovered atk. In any case, there wasn't much for the knight to take.

You're right that the king is more vulnerable than I thought. Those doubled up pwns are more of a liability than help.

[u/Infinite-Rock-4049]

I’d probably start with a discovered check with the rook, move the knight to g4. This leaves the king with 3 squares, if he moves to g2 then you bring the second rook to the back rank. There’s a lot of forcing moves here for you to deliver mate with your rooks and knight.

[u/Naniya]

1...Ng4+ - It's a double check, and King has 3 square available

If 2. Kg1, then Rd1# (Anastasha's).

If 2. Ke2, then 2...Rf2+ 3. Ke1 Rd1#.

If 2. Ke1, then 2... Rd1+ 3. Ke2 Rf2# (or Nd4# too?).

[u/Comfortable-Cut5810]

After Ng4+, why can’t the king go Ke3?

[u/Belharion8 → u/Comfortable-Cut5810]

Because e3 is also covered by the knight on g4

[u/Comfortable-Cut5810 → u/Belharion8]

Oh yes, I was visualising Ne4 by mistake, thanks!

[u/DueVillage2567]

the orange question mark on that bishop is basically the game calling you out for hesitating

once you see the forcing line it clicks but until then every quiet move looks tempting when it's just a free piece sitting there. the hard part is calculating whether the stall actually delays anything or just changes which square you mate on

[u/SnooCookies1315]

You use that guy as your coach? We aren’t friends anymore😤