Winning blow: queen to f3 (h1·2)
c9-10117naming 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.
An opening trap from this Chess960 starting position.
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.
Early Chess960 traps punish natural but careless development. Look for a forcing move that exploits a piece the opponent has just placed on a poor square — a fork, a pin or a threat that wins material before either side is fully developed.
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 f1, queen h1, rook e1 g1, bishop a1 b1, knight d1, pawn a2 b2 d2 e2 f2 h2 g3 c4.
Black: king f7, queen h8, rook e8 g8, bishop a8 b8, knight e6 c8, pawn e5 a7 b7 c7 e7 g7 h7.
15 white and 15 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 7.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (36 against 38; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 7, with 31 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
7. Qf3+ Nf4 8. gxf4 e6 9. fxe5+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f3 keeps the pressure (+4.6).
- Spot on — pawn to f4 (+4.7).
- Precise: pawn to e5 is the top choice (+4.6).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Nf4, then gxf4 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 7. Qf3+ — queen to f3 with check
- Nf4 — knight to f4
- 8. gxf4 — pawn to f4 (capture)
- e6 — pawn to e6
- 9. fxe5+ — pawn to e5 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Early queen raid
From an odd starting square the queen raids before defences exist.
The early queen raid: from an odd starting square the queen bursts into the game before any defense exists. In classical chess an early queen sortie gets punished, but in Chess960 it sometimes hits squares that literally no one can defend. The sign: within a move or two the queen reaches an unprotected pawn or piece near the enemy king. First check whether the queen can be chased with tempo — otherwise the raid just loses time.
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.
Early trap
In the first moves of a fresh setup a trap already snaps shut.
An early trap is a tactic that snaps shut within the first moves: an unfamiliar setup hides shots that classical openings never produce. Examine every starting position with fresh eyes — which pieces already aim at each other, what hangs after the first pawn moves. Moves that feel "safe" from classical habit can lose on the spot here. Chess960 has no opening theory; it has alertness from move one.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #80.
SP-80 · BastionGuard — A c- or f-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 and g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 879.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 1 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +83 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 56.0% (95% CI 42.3–68.8%).
Explore position #80Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-80
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