Winning blow: rook to g3 (e3·3)
c9-13552naming 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 1200 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 e1, queen a1, rook e3, bishop d1 b2, knight b1, pawn a2 d2 h2 b3 c4 e4 h4 e6.
Black: king g8, queen a8, rook e8 f8, bishop a6, knight c6 h6, pawn c5 f5 b6 d6 a7 h7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 16.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (31 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 e1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 16, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
16. Rg3+ Ng4 17. Bxg4 Rxe6 18. Bxf5+ Rg6 19. Bxg6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g3 keeps the pressure (+2.4).
- Well found: bishop to g4 (+2.2).
- Precise: bishop to f5 is the top choice (+2.6).
- Best move. bishop to g6 is exactly what the engine plays (+2.6).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ng4, then Bxg4 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 16. Rg3+ — rook to g3 with check
- Ng4 — knight to g4
- 17. Bxg4 — bishop to g4 (capture)
- Rxe6 — rook to e6 (capture)
- 18. Bxf5+ — bishop to f5 (capture) with check
- Rg6 — rook to g6
- 19. Bxg6 — bishop to g6 (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.
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.
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #197.
SP-197 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on a1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2, g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 666.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #197Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-197
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