Winning blow: rook to f6 (e6·3)
c9-13670naming 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 1700 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 h2, queen h6, rook e6, pawn a2 g2 c3 d4 h4 f5.
Black: king f8, queen g7, rook c8, knight b2, pawn c6 a7 b7.
9 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 20 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h2, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 31, with 33 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
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
31. Rf6+ Kg8 32. Rg6 Rc7 33. f6 Qxg6 34. Qxg6+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to f6 keeps the pressure (+8.2).
- Well found: rook to g6 (+8.6).
- A natural move: pawn to f6.
- Best move. queen to g6 is exactly what the engine plays (+8.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg8, then Rg6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31. Rf6+ — rook to f6 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 32. Rg6 — rook to g6
- Rc7 — rook to c7
- 33. f6 — pawn to f6
- Qxg6 — queen to g6 (capture)
- 34. Qxg6+ — queen to g6 (capture) with check
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #140.
SP-140 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 828.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #140Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-140
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