Daily Chess Puzzle for July 1, 2026

Daily #3 · Mate in 3 · White to move · Mate in 3

This is the BetterChess daily puzzle from July 1, 2026: a mate in 3 with white to move. Difficulty: hard. The goal is to find the forced sequence that delivers checkmate within 3 moves, against any defense.

Find the move that forces mate in 3.

Daily Puzzle #3

White to move, mate in 3 · 2026-07-01

This is a past puzzle, so the solution is public.

Replay it yourself

White to move and mate in 3. The key move is Qa5+.

From a real game

The solution

White forces mate in 3: Qa5+ Kb7 Nd6+ Kb8 Qd8#

Theme: Mate in 3. Recognizing this pattern is what lets you spot the same idea in your own games.

White to move and mate in 3. The key move is Qa5+.

Source: https://lichess.org/ruvbd9JW/black#52

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