Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g2 (h1·9)
c9-11195naming 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.
Uncastled king: the enemy king is stuck in the centre — punish it before it castles.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 970 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.
An uncastled king in the centre is a standing target. Look for ways to open the central files and diagonals against it with checks and threats before it can shelter — every tempo the king spends in the middle is a chance for a combination.
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 b1, rook a1 f1, bishop e1 h1, knight g1 c3, pawn b2 f2 h2 g3 a4 e4 d5.
Black: king c8, queen a6, rook c6 f8, bishop e8, knight e6 g8, pawn a5 g5 b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 h7.
15 white and 15 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 9.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (38 against 36; 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 c8.
It is White to move on move 9, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 8. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: c.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
9. Bg2 Rc5 10. dxe6 d5 11. f4
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to g2 keeps the pressure (+3.6).
- Spot on — pawn to e6 (+3.7).
- A natural move: pawn to f4.
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Rc5, then dxe6 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 9. Bg2 — bishop to g2
Types in this puzzle
Corner bishop
A bishop born in the corner rakes the longest diagonal.
The corner bishop: in Chess960 a bishop often starts on a1 or h1, staring down the longest diagonal from birth. One pawn move and it fires across the entire board, hitting a rook or king in the far corner. In every starting position inspect the long diagonals: whose bishop sits in the corner, what blocks its path, which pawn move opens the line. The mistake is noticing the enemy corner bishop only after it has collected its loot.
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?
Uncastled king
The king lingered in the middle — punish the delay.
Punishing the uncastled king: your opponent delayed castling, and now his king is stuck on its starting square under fire. In Chess960 this is deadlier than in classical chess — the king may start in the center or near the edge, and the familiar defensive setups simply do not apply. The signs: the victim still holds castling rights, and the files toward his king are half-open. Open lines before the king manages to hide.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #795.
SP-795 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 161.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #795Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 005 · SP-795
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