Winning blow: pawn to d6 (e5·6)
c9-11156naming 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 1060 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 g2, queen a6, rook a1 b1, knight a5, pawn c2 f3 g4 e5 f6.
Black: king b8, queen d7, rook e8 f8, knight d6 a7, pawn c3 d5 g5 b6 e6 c7.
10 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (27 against 31; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g2, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, d.
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
28. exd6 cxd6 29. Rxb6+ Kc7 30. Qxa7+
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to d6 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Spot on — rook to b6 (#3).
- Precise: queen to a7 is the top choice (#2).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead cxd6, then Rxb6+ and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 28. exd6 — pawn to d6 (capture)
- cxd6 — pawn to d6 (capture)
- 29. Rxb6+ — rook to b6 (capture) with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 30. Qxa7+ — queen to a7 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #435.
SP-435 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on e1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 707.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #435Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-435
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