Winning blow: pawn to b6 (c5·11)
c9-13356naming 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 1870 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 e5, rook b3, knight e1, pawn b2 d4 h4 c5.
Black: king b7, rook b6 d8, pawn g5 h5 a7 d7 e7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 6 points of material (21 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 g1, the black king on b7.
It is White to move on move 27, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, e, g.
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
27. cxb6 d6 28. Qd5+ Kc8 29. Qc6+
Why it works
- Best move. pawn to b6 is exactly what the engine plays (#4).
- Spot on — queen to d5 (#3).
- Precise: queen to c6 is the top choice (#2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead d6, then Qd5+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 27. cxb6 — pawn to b6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #124.
SP-124 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on c1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from f1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 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 844.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #124Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-124
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