Winning blow: rook to e3 (a3)
c9-10917naming 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 c1, queen f1, rook e1 a3, bishop c2, pawn b2 g2 c4 d4 d5.
Black: king d8, queen d6, rook e3 a8, knight c6 g6, pawn g3 a6 f6 b7 c7 d7 g7 h7.
10 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (27 against 33; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 17, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 8. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, f, h.
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
17. Raxe3 Nce7 18. Bxg6 hxg6 19. Rxe7 Qxe7 20. Rxe7
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e3 keeps the pressure (+5.8).
- Spot on — bishop to g6 (+6.0).
- Precise: rook to e7 is the top choice (+4.9).
- Great move! rook to e7 keeps the pressure (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Nce7, then Bxg6 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 17. Raxe3 — rook to e3 (capture)
- Nce7 — knight to e7
- 18. Bxg6 — bishop to g6 (capture)
- hxg6 — pawn to g6 (capture)
- 19. Rxe7 — rook to e7 (capture)
- Qxe7 — queen to e7 (capture)
- 20. Rxe7 — rook to e7 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
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.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #653.
SP-653 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and e1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 216.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #653Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-653
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