Chess960 tactic on g5 (e3)
c9-09535naming 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.
Mate: a forcing sequence that ends the game — the king has no escape.
Mate in 4: a forced checkmate in four moves — every reply is covered.
Difficulty 2120 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 is a forced mating attack. Start from the enemy king: which of its squares are already covered, and which move takes away the rest while keeping the king in check? Forcing moves — checks and captures — are what turn an attack into mate.
A mate in four is a longer forced net: each of your moves is a check or an irresistible threat, and the king is driven step by step to a square where it is finally trapped. Verify that the defender has exactly one reply at every branch.
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 d2, queen e3, rook h1 c2, bishop b6, knight e5, pawn a2 g2 h2 f3 b4.
Black: king g7, queen a4, pawn b7 e7 h7.
11 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 18 points of material (30 against 12; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d2, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 26, with 55 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): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e.
The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26. Qg5+ Kf8 27. Rc8+ Qe8 28. Qh6+ Kg8 29. Rxe8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g5 keeps the pressure (#3).
- Spot on — rook to c8 (#2).
- Precise: queen to h6 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. rook to e8 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Kf8, then Rc8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 26. Qg5+ — queen to g5 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 27. Rc8+ — rook to c8 with check
- Qe8 — queen to e8
- 28. Qh6+ — queen to h6 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 29. Rxe8# — rook to e8 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 4+
A long forced mating combination.
Mate in four or longer is a marathon of forcing moves where the grip must never loosen. The tools are the same: checks, double threats and sacrifices that deny the opponent a single free tempo. Do not juggle the whole tree at once — walk the main line all the way to mate first, then verify the side branches. If somewhere the defender finds one quiet move that holds, your very first move was wrong.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #264.
SP-264 · 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 c1 and h1, the queen on g1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
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 ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 605.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #264Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-264
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