Winning blow: bishop to f6 (c3·5)
c9-09052naming 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 1870 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 g1, queen c7, bishop c3, knight e3, pawn a2 e2 f2 b3 g3.
Black: king g6, queen f6, pawn g4 a7.
9 white and 4 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 40.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 9 points of material (20 against 11; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g6.
It is White to move on move 40, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
40. Bxf6 Kxf6 41. Qxa7 Ke6 42. Qc7
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f6 keeps the pressure (#5).
- Spot on — queen to a7 (#5).
- A natural move: queen to c7.
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxf6, then Nxg4+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 40. Bxf6 — bishop to f6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #56.
SP-56 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest family.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 909.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 9 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +44 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #56Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-56
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