Winning blow: knight to c6 (e5·21)
c9-11142naming 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 1280 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 e3, rook d8, bishop f3, knight e5, pawn a2 c2 h4 f5.
Black: king e7, knight g7, pawn a5 h6.
8 white and 4 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 39.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 10 points of material (15 against 5; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e3, the black king on e7.
It is White to move on move 39, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, d, e, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 7 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
39. Nc6+ Kf7 40. Bd5+ Ne6 41. fxe6+
Why it works
- Best move. knight to c6 is exactly what the engine plays (#5).
- Spot on — bishop to d5 (#4).
- Precise: pawn to e6 is the top choice (#4).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Kf7, then Bd5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 39. Nc6+ — knight to c6 with check
Types in this puzzle
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.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #774.
SP-774 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
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 182.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 97 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +6 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #774Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-774
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