Winning blow: king to d3 (d2)
c9-11508naming 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 d2, queen c2, rook b1 e1, bishop f1 f4, knight g3, pawn a2 b2 f2 g2 h4.
Black: king f7, queen b8, rook e5 a8, bishop b4 c8, pawn d5 c6 h6 a7 b7 g7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (33 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 d2, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 15, with 4 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, d.
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
15. Kd3 Qd6 16. h5 Qf6 17. Rxe5
Why it works
- Great move! king to d3 keeps the pressure (+2.5).
- pawn to h5 develops smoothly.
- Strong! rook to e5 is the sharp choice (+2.8).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Bd6, then Bxe5 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 15. Kd3 — king to d3
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 #886.
SP-886 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and e1, the queen on b1.
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 c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 70.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 3 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +58 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 55.0% (95% CI 41.3–67.9%).
Explore position #886Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 005 · SP-886
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads