Winning blow: rook to e1 (g1·2)
c9-11239naming 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 c1, rook g1 a2, bishop d1 f4, pawn c2 b3 e3 g3 a4 d4 h4 e5.
Black: king a7, queen e1, rook g6 h8, bishop a6, knight f7, pawn a5 d5 f5 b6 c6 e6 g7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (24 against 32; 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 a7.
It is White to move on move 33, with 17 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: f.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33. Rxe1 c5 34. h5 Rg4 35. Bxg4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e1 keeps the pressure (+2.6).
- pawn to h5 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to g4 is the top choice (+3.1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead c5, then h5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 33. Rxe1 — rook to e1 (capture)
- c5 — pawn to c5
- 34. h5 — pawn to h5
- Rg4 — rook to g4
- 35. Bxg4 — bishop to g4 (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 #709.
SP-709 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on e1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 442.
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 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #709Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-709
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