Winning blow: knight to f5 (h6·3)
c9-13151naming 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 1480 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 g1, queen h5, rook b1 e1, knight h6, pawn c3 g3 d4.
Black: king f8, queen e7, rook g5, bishop f4, pawn c4 d5 e6 f6 a7 b7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (25 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b, e, f.
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
24. Nf5 Rxh5 25. Nxe7 Bxg3 26. Rxe6
Why it works
- Great move! knight to f5 keeps the pressure (+4.0).
- Well found: knight to e7 (+3.8).
- Strong! rook to e6 is the sharp choice (+3.8).
- You reach a winning position (+3.8).
- If instead Rxh5, then Nxe7 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24. Nf5 — knight to f5
- Rxh5 — rook to h5 (capture)
- 25. Nxe7 — knight to e7 (capture)
- Bxg3 — bishop to g3 (capture)
- 26. Rxe6 — rook to e6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Simplification
Trade the heavy pieces and steer into a won endgame.
Simplification is how you convert an advantage: by trading queens and rooks you extinguish the counterplay and steer the game into a won endgame. The rule is simple — the side with extra material trades pieces but keeps pawns. Look for exchanges once the material is already won and your opponent is still rattling threats. The mistake is avoiding the queen trade and letting him muddy the water forever.
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 #180.
SP-180 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on f1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2, f2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 782.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #180Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-180
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