Winning blow: queen to f5 (f4·2)
c9-11473naming 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 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.
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 f4, rook e1 a8, knight f8, pawn b2 d2 c3 a4 e4.
Black: king f7, queen c4, bishop c7, knight g5, pawn a5 c5 f6 b7 e7.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 40.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 7 points of material (27 against 20; 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 f7.
It is White to move on move 40, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
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
40. Qf5 Qxc3+ 41. bxc3 e6 42. Qg6+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f5 keeps the pressure (#5).
- Spot on — pawn to c3 (#4).
- Precise: queen to g6 is the top choice (#3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxc3+, then bxc3 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 40. Qf5 — queen to f5
Types in this puzzle
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?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #632.
SP-632 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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 b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: b2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 237.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #632Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 005 · SP-632
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