Winning blow: queen to g5 (c1·9)
c9-10560naming 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 1150 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 c1, rook f1 f3, knight g2, pawn e2 f2 d4 h4.
Black: king g6, queen a2, rook f8, bishop b4, knight e8, pawn h5 d6 e6 c7 f7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (26 against 25; 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 g6.
It is White to move on move 19, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
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
19. Qg5+ Kh7 20. Qxh5+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g5 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Well found: queen to h5 (#3).
- You win decisive material (+15.0).
- If instead Kh7, then Qxh5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Qg5+ — queen to g5 with check
- Kh7 — king to h7
- 20. Qxh5+ — queen to h5 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #17.
SP-17 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on c1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 939.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #17Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-17
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