Winning blow: knight to c6 (b4·6)
c9-11322naming 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 1200 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 g1, queen d4, rook c1 f1, knight c3 b4, pawn e2 h2 a3 g3 f4 d7.
Black: king d8, queen c5, rook a8 h8, knight d2 c7, pawn g4 h5 b6 e6 f6 a7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 31 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 20, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
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
20. Nc6+ Qxc6 21. Qxf6+ Kxd7 22. Qg7+ Kd8 23. Qxh8+
Why it works
- Great move! knight to c6 keeps the pressure (+6.0).
- Well found: queen to f6 (+6.2).
- Precise: queen to g7 is the top choice (+6.2).
- Best move. queen to h8 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.2).
- You win decisive material (+6.2).
- If instead Qxc6, then Qxf6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 20. Nc6+ — knight to c6 with check
- Qxc6 — queen to c6 (capture)
- 21. Qxf6+ — queen to f6 (capture) with check
- Kxd7 — king to d7 (capture)
- 22. Qg7+ — queen to g7 with check
- Kd8 — king to d8
- 23. Qxh8+ — queen to h8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
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.
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #259.
SP-259 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on f1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 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: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 595.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 98 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +3 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 47.0% (95% CI 33.9–60.6%).
Explore position #259Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-259
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