Winning blow: rook to h7 (h1·12)
c9-10264naming 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 1870 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 d1, rook h1 b4, bishop d2 g2, knight e5 c8, pawn c2 c3 e3.
Black: king c7, rook a5 f8, knight a3, pawn a4 g4 b5 g5.
10 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 8 points of material (25 against 17; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on c7.
It is White to move on move 24, with 47 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b, g.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Rh7+ Kb8 25. Nd7+ Kc7 26. Ndb6+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h7 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Spot on — knight to d7 (#5).
- Precise: knight to b6 is the top choice (#4).
- You win decisive material (+15.0).
- If instead Rf7, then Rxf7+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 24. Rh7+ — rook to h7 with check
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.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #566.
SP-566 · 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 g1, the queen on h1.
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 c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 486.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #566Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-566
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