Winning blow: queen to e6 (g4·3)
c9-09865naming 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 1060 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, queen g4, rook b1 g3, knight h5, pawn a2 c2 d2 f2 g2 e3 h4.
Black: king h7, queen d8, rook b8 h8, bishop b7 f8, knight e5, pawn b5 d6 e6 f6 a7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 18.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (29 against 33; 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 h7.
It is White to move on move 18, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: b.
Black 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
18. Qxe6 Bc8 19. Nxf6+ Qxf6 20. Qxf6
Why it works
- Best move. queen to e6 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.8).
- Well found: knight to f6 (+5.8).
- Strong! queen to f6 is the sharp choice (+6.2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bc8, then Nxf6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 18. Qxe6 — queen to e6 (capture)
- Bc8 — bishop to c8
- 19. Nxf6+ — knight to f6 (capture) with check
- Qxf6 — queen to f6 (capture)
- 20. Qxf6 — queen to f6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #418.
SP-418 · RampartGuard — Both knights begin on inner files while the king sits on the wing (b/g); mirror twins stay together in this family.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 727.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 100 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: -2 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 51.0% (95% CI 37.6–64.3%).
Explore position #418Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-418
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