Winning blow: rook to d8 (d3·3)
c9-08779naming 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.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 1200 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.
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 a2, queen c4, rook d3, pawn b2 c2 d2 a4.
Black: king f8, queen h1, rook e7 d8, bishop g5, pawn c6 a7.
7 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 37.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (18 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on a2, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 37, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, f, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
37. Rxd8+ Re8 38. Qc5+ Kf7 39. Qxg5 Rxd8 40. Qxd8
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d8 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- Spot on — queen to c5 (+4.6).
- Precise: queen to g5 is the top choice (+4.7).
- Great move! queen to d8 keeps the pressure (+5.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Re8, then Qc5+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 37. Rxd8+ — rook to d8 (capture) with check
- Re8 — rook to e8
- 38. Qc5+ — queen to c5 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 39. Qxg5 — queen to g5 (capture)
- Rxd8 — rook to d8 (capture)
- 40. Qxd8 — queen to d8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #669.
SP-669 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and e1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 200.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 5 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +49 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #669Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-669
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads