Winning blow: queen to d8 (a5·2)
c9-13538naming 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 920 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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 b2, queen a5, bishop g4, pawn b3 g3 a4 f4.
Black: king b8, queen g1, rook d8, bishop c6, pawn d6 e7 h7.
7 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (16 against 20; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b2, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, e, h.
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
29. Qxd8+ Ka7 30. Qxe7+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d8 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- Spot on — queen to e7 (+3.3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ka7, then Qxe7+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 29. Qxd8+ — queen to d8 (capture) with check
- Ka7 — king to a7
- 30. Qxe7+ — queen to e7 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
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 #879.
SP-879 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
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: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 80.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 1 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +66 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 60.0% (95% CI 46.2–72.4%).
Explore position #879Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 004 · SP-879
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads