Winning blow: knight to e2 (c3·4)
c9-13183naming 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 1060 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 b1, rook d1 g1, bishop a1 d5, knight f1 c3, pawn a2 c2 h2 b3 g3 g5.
Black: king b8, queen e2, rook d8 g8, bishop a8 h8, knight b6, pawn d6 a7 b7 c7 f7 h7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (28 against 34; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 15, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, f.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
15. Nxe2 Nxd5 16. Rxd5 Bxa1 17. Kxa1
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e2 keeps the pressure (+4.2).
- Spot on — rook to d5 (+4.3).
- Strong! king to a1 is the sharp choice (+4.4).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Nxd5, then Rxd5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 15. Nxe2 — knight to e2 (capture)
- Nxd5 — knight to d5 (capture)
- 16. Rxd5 — rook to d5 (capture)
- Bxa1 — bishop to a1 (capture)
- 17. Kxa1 — king to a1 (capture)
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 #243.
SP-243 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 611.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #243Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-243
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