Winning blow: knight to f6 (d7·6)
c9-10114naming tag (square·N)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 1870 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king b1, queen e5, rook d1, bishop h3, knight b5 d7, pawn b2 c2 h2 d3 f3 f4.
Black: king h8, rook f6 c8, bishop e7, pawn a5 f5 b6 c6 h7.
12 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26. Nxf6 Bd6 27. Nxd6 Rf8 28. Nh5+
Why it works
- Best move. knight to f6 is exactly what the engine plays (#4).
- Spot on — knight to d6 (#3).
- Precise: knight to h5 is the top choice (#2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Bd6, then Nxd6 and you win the rook.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #79.
SP-79 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 880.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #79Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-79
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