Winning blow: rook to c4 (c3)
c9-09563naming 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 1250 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 e1, queen c2, rook c1 c3, bishop e3 e4, knight d4, pawn a2 b2 f2 f4 h4 e5.
Black: king e8, queen b8, rook c7 h8, bishop e7, knight c5 d7, pawn b4 a5 h5 e6 g6 f7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 34 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
25. Rc4 Kf8 26. Nc6 Rxc6 27. Bxc6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c4 keeps the pressure (+3.3).
- knight to c6 develops smoothly.
- Strong! bishop to c6 is the sharp choice (+3.4).
- You reach a winning position (+3.4).
- If instead Kf8, then Nc6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 25. Rc4 — rook to c4
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 26. Nc6 — knight to c6
- Rxc6 — rook to c6 (capture)
- 27. Bxc6 — bishop to c6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #506.
SP-506 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on b1.
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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 549.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #506Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-506
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