Winning blow: rook to d3 (d1·2)
c9-09197naming 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 g1, rook d1 f2, bishop a1, knight f1 e2, pawn g2 h2 a3 b4 e4 c5 e5.
Black: king f7, queen h4, rook d3, bishop a8 b8, knight e7, pawn a4 b5 c6 e6 f6 g7.
13 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (26 against 29; 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 f7.
It is White to move on move 21, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
Black 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
21. Rxd3 Qxe4 22. Rd8 Bxe5 23. Bxe5 Qxe5 24. Rxa8
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d3 keeps the pressure (+3.4).
- Spot on — rook to d8 (+2.6).
- Stunning! bishop to e5 gives up material but you stand better (+2.6).
- Best move. rook to a8 is exactly what the engine plays (+2.5).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qxe4, then Rd8 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 21. Rxd3 — rook to d3 (capture)
- Qxe4 — queen to e4 (capture)
- 22. Rd8 — rook to d8
- Bxe5 — bishop to e5 (capture)
- 23. Bxe5 — bishop to e5 (capture)
- Qxe5 — queen to e5 (capture)
- 24. Rxa8 — rook to a8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Absolute pin
A piece is pinned against its king — it cannot legally move.
An absolute pin freezes a piece on the line between its own king and your long-range attacker: moving it is simply illegal. The pattern is three units on one straight line — your bishop, rook or queen, an enemy piece, and the enemy king behind it. A pinned piece neither attacks nor defends anything: treat it as if it were off the board. Pile up on it, ideally with a pawn, because running away is against the rules.
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.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #320.
SP-320 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on e1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 351.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #320Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-320
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