Chess960 tactic on d8 (c8·2)
c9-10806naming 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.
Mate: a forcing sequence that ends the game — the king has no escape.
Mate in 4: a forced checkmate in four moves — every reply is covered.
Difficulty 2250 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 is a forced mating attack. Start from the enemy king: which of its squares are already covered, and which move takes away the rest while keeping the king in check? Forcing moves — checks and captures — are what turn an attack into mate.
A mate in four is a longer forced net: each of your moves is a check or an irresistible threat, and the king is driven step by step to a square where it is finally trapped. Verify that the defender has exactly one reply at every branch.
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 d2, rook d1 c8, bishop b1, knight e5, pawn a2 f5 d7.
Black: king f8, queen f7, rook h2 d8, knight a6, pawn g2 b4 g4 e7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (28 against 26; 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 f8.
It is White to move on move 32, with 45 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): c, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, e, g.
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
32. Rxd8+ Kg7 33. Qg5+ Kh7 34. f6+ Qg6 35. Bxg6#
Why it works
- Best move. rook to d8 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- Spot on — queen to g5 (#2).
- Precise: pawn to f6 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. bishop to g6 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Kg7, then Qg5+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 32. Rxd8+ — rook to d8 (capture) with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 33. Qg5+ — queen to g5 with check
- Kh7 — king to h7
- 34. f6+ — pawn to f6 with check
- Qg6 — queen to g6
- 35. Bxg6# — bishop to g6 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 4+
A long forced mating combination.
Mate in four or longer is a marathon of forcing moves where the grip must never loosen. The tools are the same: checks, double threats and sacrifices that deny the opponent a single free tempo. Do not juggle the whole tree at once — walk the main line all the way to mate first, then verify the side branches. If somewhere the defender finds one quiet move that holds, your very first move was wrong.
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.
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #268.
SP-268 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on f1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 604.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 1 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +58 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 58.0% (95% CI 44.2–70.6%).
Explore position #268Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-268
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