Winning blow: rook to e6 (c6·2)
c9-13450naming 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 c2, queen f4, rook f1 c6, bishop d5, pawn b2 f2 h3 a4 b5 e5 h5.
Black: king e8, queen d7, rook a8, pawn g4 a7.
12 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 13 points of material (29 against 16; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c2, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 62 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
The White king has 7 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
29. Re6+ Kd8 30. Rd6 Rc8+ 31. Kb1
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e6 keeps the pressure (#6).
- rook to d6 develops smoothly.
- A natural move: king to b1.
- You win decisive material (+15.0).
- If instead Kd8, then Rd6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 29. Re6+ — rook to e6 with check
Types in this puzzle
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
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 #791.
SP-791 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 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 ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 162.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #791Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-791
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