Chess960 tactic on d7 (a4)
c9-08761naming 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.
Mate: a forcing sequence that ends the game — the king has no escape.
Mate in 4: a forced checkmate in four moves — every reply is covered.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
Difficulty 2350 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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.
This is a forced mating attack. Start from the enemy king: which of its squares are already covered, and which move takes away the rest while keeping the king in check? Forcing moves — checks and captures — are what turn an attack into mate.
A mate in four is a longer forced net: each of your moves is a check or an irresistible threat, and the king is driven step by step to a square where it is finally trapped. Verify that the defender has exactly one reply at every branch.
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.
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 e2, queen a4, rook b7, knight c5, pawn d2 h3 d4 e5.
Black: king e8, rook h8, bishop e7, pawn e6 f6 h6 d7 g7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 8 points of material (21 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f, g.
The White king has 7 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
29. Qxd7+ Kf7 30. Qxe7+ Kg6 31. Qxg7+ Kh5 32. Qg4#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to d7 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- Spot on — queen to e7 (#2).
- Precise: queen to g7 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. queen to g4 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Kf7, then Qxe7+ and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 29. Qxd7+ — queen to d7 (capture) with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 30. Qxe7+ — queen to e7 (capture) with check
- Kg6 — king to g6
- 31. Qxg7+ — queen to g7 (capture) with check
- Kh5 — king to h5
- 32. Qg4# — queen to g4 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Supported queen mate
The queen delivers mate face to face, protected by a friend.
The supported queen mate is the most common pattern of all: the queen lands next to the king and mates because a friendly piece or pawn protects her. The king is helpless — capturing is impossible, and the queen covers every neighboring square herself. Hunt for a protected square beside the enemy king: a knight, bishop or pawn eyeing it turns her invasion into mate. Verify one thing — that the square really is defended, or the king eats her.
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
Mate in 4+
A long forced mating combination.
Mate in four or longer is a marathon of forcing moves where the grip must never loosen. The tools are the same: checks, double threats and sacrifices that deny the opponent a single free tempo. Do not juggle the whole tree at once — walk the main line all the way to mate first, then verify the side branches. If somewhere the defender finds one quiet move that holds, your very first move was wrong.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #125.
SP-125 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 840.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #125Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-125
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