Chess960 tactic on h8 (h7)
c9-13085naming 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.
Mate: a forcing sequence that ends the game — the king has no escape.
Mate in 4: a forced checkmate in four moves — every reply is covered.
Difficulty 2400 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 is a forced mating attack. Start from the enemy king: which of its squares are already covered, and which move takes away the rest while keeping the king in check? Forcing moves — checks and captures — are what turn an attack into mate.
A mate in four is a longer forced net: each of your moves is a check or an irresistible threat, and the king is driven step by step to a square where it is finally trapped. Verify that the defender has exactly one reply at every branch.
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 e5, rook d1 g1, bishop h3 d8, knight a1 h1, pawn a2 e2 f2 g3 h7.
Black: king d7, bishop c8 f8, knight b6, pawn g4 d5 f5 c6 a7 b7.
13 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 21 points of material (36 against 15; 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 d7.
It is White to move on move 17, with 50 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: b, c, d.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
17. h8=Q Bb4+ 18. Kf1 Bf8 19. Qxf8 gxh3 20. Qee7#
Why it works
- Sensible development: pawn to h8.
- king to f1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: queen to f8 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. queen to e7 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Bb4+, then Kf1 and you win the pawn.
Move by move
- 17. h8=Q — pawn to h8
- Bb4+ — bishop to b4 with check
- 18. Kf1 — king to f1
- Bf8 — bishop to f8
- 19. Qxf8 — queen to f8 (capture)
- gxh3 — pawn to h3 (capture)
- 20. Qee7# — queen to e7 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Ladder mate
Two heavy pieces climb line by line, cutting off every retreat.
The ladder mate uses two heavy pieces climbing rung by rung: one cuts the king off along a line, the other checks on the next line, driving him toward the edge. It is the classic two-rook technique — check, the king retreats one rank, the other rook checks, until mate on the last rank. The only danger is the king creeping close enough to attack one of your rooks. If it does, simply slide that rook to the far side of the same line.
Mate in 4+
A long forced mating combination.
Mate in four or longer is a marathon of forcing moves where the grip must never loosen. The tools are the same: checks, double threats and sacrifices that deny the opponent a single free tempo. Do not juggle the whole tree at once — walk the main line all the way to mate first, then verify the side branches. If somewhere the defender finds one quiet move that holds, your very first move was wrong.
Supported queen mate
The queen delivers mate face to face, protected by a friend.
The supported queen mate is the most common pattern of all: the queen lands next to the king and mates because a friendly piece or pawn protects her. The king is helpless — capturing is impossible, and the queen covers every neighboring square herself. Hunt for a protected square beside the enemy king: a knight, bishop or pawn eyeing it turns her invasion into mate. Verify one thing — that the square really is defended, or the king eats her.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #310.
SP-310 · 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on b1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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 358.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 14 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +40 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #310Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-310
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