Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (a1·7)
c9-06533naming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Chess960 twist: use the unusual starting setup of the pieces.
A piece strikes across the board from its Chess960 starting square.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
Uncastled king: the enemy king is stuck in the centre — punish it before it castles.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 1280 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
In Chess960 the pieces start on unfamiliar squares, so tactics appear earlier and from unusual angles. Do not trust classical patterns — read the actual lines of the bishops, the rooks and the queen from where they really stand in this position.
From some Chess960 setups a bishop or queen rakes a long diagonal straight from move one. Trace those long-range lines into the enemy camp: a single opened file or diagonal can create an immediate pin, skewer or mating threat.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
An uncastled king in the centre is a standing target. Look for ways to open the central files and diagonals against it with checks and threats before it can shelter — every tempo the king spends in the middle is a chance for a combination.
This position hides a concrete tactic that wins material or mates. Start with the most forcing candidate moves — checks, captures and threats — and calculate each to a clear end before choosing; the winning line is usually the one the opponent cannot meet.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king d1, queen a1 f8, rook c1 h1, bishop e1 f1, knight b1 e2, pawn a2 c2 d2 g2 h2 b3 e3.
Black: king d8, queen a8, rook c8 g8, bishop e8, knight h6 b8, pawn b6 d6 a7 c7 h7.
16 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 9.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 14 points of material (47 against 33; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 9, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
9. Qaf6+ Kd7 10. Q8e7+ Kc6 11. Qe4+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f6 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Well found: queen to e7 (#3).
- Strong! queen to e4 is the sharp choice (#2).
- You win decisive material (+15.0).
- If instead Kd7, then Q8e7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 9. Qaf6+ — queen to f6 with check
Types in this puzzle
Long-range opener
From its unusual home square a long-range piece strikes across the board.
The long-range opener: a bishop, rook or queen strikes across the whole board straight from its starting area. In Chess960 the long-range pieces sit on unfamiliar squares, and a single pawn move can uncover a shot deep into the enemy camp. In the opening, trace with your eyes the diagonals and files of every long-range piece — yours and theirs. The mistake is pushing a pawn without checking whose line you have just opened.
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #202.
SP-202 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on a1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 661.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 37 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +30 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #202Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 009 · SP-202
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