Winning blow: knight to d6 (f5·14)
c9-10909naming 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.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
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.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 h2, rook f7, knight d4 f5, pawn f3.
Black: king c8, rook a5, bishop b5, knight b4, pawn a7.
5 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 12 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h2, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 35, with 28 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 1 pawns, Black 1. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c, d, e, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
35. Nd6+ Kb8 36. Ne6 Ra2+ 37. Kg3 Rg2+ 38. Kxg2
Why it works
- Best move. knight to d6 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.1).
- knight to e6 develops smoothly.
- A natural move: king to g3.
- Best move. king to g2 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kb8, then Ne6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 35. Nd6+ — knight to d6 with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 36. Ne6 — knight to e6
- Ra2+ — rook to a2 with check
- 37. Kg3 — king to g3
- Rg2+ — rook to g2 with check
- 38. Kxg2 — king to g2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
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.
King march
In the endgame the king is a fighting piece — march it in.
The king march: in the endgame the king is a fighting piece, and often it is his journey forward that wins. It is time to march when the queens are off and checks hold no danger — the king attacks pawns, escorts the passer, takes squares away. The telltale sign of the theme is several king moves in a row. Plan the full route in advance using the rule of the square, and do not let the enemy king grab the opposition.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #290.
SP-290 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on b1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 375.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #290Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-290
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