Winning blow: queen to c7 (c6·8)
c9-12511naming tag (square·N)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 2100 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king c1, queen c6, rook e1 e4, knight e6, pawn b2 f2 b3 e3.
Black: king b8, rook a6, knight a4, pawn a5 h5 g6 c7.
9 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26. Qxc7+ Ka8 27. Rxa4 h4 28. Nc5
Why it works
- Best move. queen to c7 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- Spot on — rook to a4 (#3).
- A natural move: knight to c5.
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Ka8, then Nc5 and you stay on top.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #747.
SP-747 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on f1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 401.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #747Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-747
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