Winning blow: bishop to f2 (e1·2)
c9-11121naming tag (square·N)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 2060 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king d1, queen c5, bishop e1, knight c4 a5, pawn a2 c2 d2 h3 e4 h5.
Black: king a8, rook b8, bishop b2 e8, pawn b5 e6 a7 d7 f7.
11 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. Bf2 Bd4 21. Bxd4 Rb6 22. Nxb6+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f2 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Spot on — bishop to d4 (#3).
- Precise: knight to b6 is the top choice (#2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Bd4, then Bxd4 and you win the bishop.
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #281.
SP-281 · 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 b1 and g1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 585.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #281Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-281
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