Winning blow: bishop to f6 (g7·3)
c9-09505naming 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 h1, bishop d3 g7, knight d6, pawn a2 c2 g2 h2 e4.
Black: king d8, queen f6, rook e8, bishop b4 d7, pawn b5 c7 h7.
9 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 9 points of material (14 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
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
27. Bxf6+ Re7 28. Nxb5 c6 29. Nd4 Bc3 30. Bxe7+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f6 keeps the pressure (+3.3).
- Spot on — knight to b5 (+3.5).
- Precise: knight to d4 is the top choice (+3.2).
- Great move! bishop to e7 keeps the pressure (+3.1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Re7, then Nxb5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 27. Bxf6+ — bishop to f6 (capture) with check
- Re7 — rook to e7
- 28. Nxb5 — knight to b5 (capture)
- c6 — pawn to c6
- 29. Nd4 — knight to d4
- Bc3 — bishop to c3
- 30. Bxe7+ — bishop to e7 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
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 #870.
SP-870 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on a1.
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 c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 86.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 10 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +44 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 55.0% (95% CI 41.3–67.9%).
Explore position #870Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-870
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