Winning blow: rook to d8 (d1·12)
c9-10863naming 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 c2, queen e4, rook d1, bishop g2, knight c4, pawn b2 h2 g3 e5.
Black: king a7, queen c8, rook a6 d8, bishop b5 g7, pawn a3 a5 g6 c7 h7.
9 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (24 against 30; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c2, the black king on a7.
It is White to move on move 24, with 50 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): d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, c.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Rxd8 Ba4+ 25. b3 Bc6 26. Rxc8 Bxe4+ 27. Bxe4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d8 keeps the pressure (+6.0).
- Spot on — pawn to b3 (+6.8).
- Precise: rook to c8 is the top choice (+6.8).
- Great move! bishop to e4 keeps the pressure (+6.9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Ba4+, then b3 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 24. Rxd8 — rook to d8 (capture)
- Ba4+ — bishop to a4 with check
- 25. b3 — pawn to b3
- Bc6 — bishop to c6
- 26. Rxc8 — rook to c8 (capture)
- Bxe4+ — bishop to e4 (capture) with check
- 27. Bxe4 — bishop to e4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Simplification
Trade the heavy pieces and steer into a won endgame.
Simplification is how you convert an advantage: by trading queens and rooks you extinguish the counterplay and steer the game into a won endgame. The rule is simple — the side with extra material trades pieces but keeps pawns. Look for exchanges once the material is already won and your opponent is still rattling threats. The mistake is avoiding the queen trade and letting him muddy the water forever.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #907.
SP-907 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and d1, the queen on c1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 49.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #907Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-907
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