Winning blow: rook to f4 (g4·2)
c9-11558naming 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 1250 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 e1, queen f6, rook a1 g4, knight e3, pawn a2 b2 f2 g2 c4 e5 h5.
Black: king f8, queen b6, rook a8 e8, bishop c7, pawn b3 c5 a6 e6 f7 h7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (29 against 28; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Rf4 Qb4+ 22. Kf1 Qe1+ 23. Rxe1
Why it works
- Great move! rook to f4 keeps the pressure (#5).
- king to f1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: rook to e1 is the top choice (#3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qb4+, then Kf1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Rf4 — rook to f4
- Qb4+ — queen to b4 with check
- 22. Kf1 — king to f1
- Qe1+ — queen to e1 with check
- 23. Rxe1 — rook to e1 (capture)
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 #692.
SP-692 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 462.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #692Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-692
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