Winning blow: queen to g3 (e1·3)
c9-10162naming 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 1200 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 h1, queen e1, rook f1, bishop h5, knight b3 c3, pawn a2 c2 d2 g2 f4.
Black: king g7, queen b4, rook f8, bishop c8, knight c6 d6, pawn b5 f5 a6 c7 d7.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 28 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 21, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
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
21. Qg3+ Kh8 22. Qh4 Kh7 23. Nd5 Ne4 24. Nxb4
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g3 keeps the pressure (+6.7).
- Well found: queen to h4 (+7.2).
- A natural move: knight to d5.
- Best move. knight to b4 is exactly what the engine plays (+7.4).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kh8, then Qh4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Qg3+ — queen to g3 with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 22. Qh4 — queen to h4
- Kh7 — king to h7
- 23. Nd5 — knight to d5
- Ne4 — knight to e4
- 24. Nxb4 — knight to b4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #33.
SP-33 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on e1.
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 g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 923.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #33Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-33
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