Winning blow: bishop to f6 (d4)
c9-11145naming 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 920 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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 g3, rook e2, bishop d4, knight b3, pawn b2 c3 a4 g4.
Black: king e8, rook h1 f6, bishop f8, knight e7, pawn a5 g5 c7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (15 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g3, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 32, with 26 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32. Bxf6 Kd7 33. Bxg5
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f6 keeps the pressure (+3.0).
- Spot on — bishop to g5 (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kd7, then Bxg5 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 32. Bxf6 — bishop to f6 (capture)
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 33. Bxg5 — bishop to g5 (capture)
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #446.
SP-446 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 708.
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 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #446Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 004 · SP-446
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