Winning blow: rook to d8 (d1·2)
c9-08819naming 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 920 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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 h2, queen f4, rook d1, bishop a1, knight c5, pawn a2 c2 b4 f5 g5.
Black: king e8, queen d8, rook f7 f8, bishop e6, knight c4, pawn e3 b5 a6 c7 h7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (25 against 30; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h2, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 30, with 52 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, h.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
30. Rxd8+ Kxd8 31. Nxe6+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d8 keeps the pressure (+5.9).
- Spot on — knight to e6 (+6.1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxd8, then Nxe6+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 30. Rxd8+ — rook to d8 (capture) with check
- Kxd8 — king to d8 (capture)
- 31. Nxe6+ — knight to e6 (capture) with check
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.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #307.
SP-307 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on c1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 355.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #307Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 004 · SP-307
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