Winning blow: king to b3 (c2·2)
c9-13688naming 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 1750 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 c6, rook b1 g3, bishop a1, knight c5 f6, pawn f2 d3 b4 c4.
Black: king d8, queen e2, rook b8 g8, bishop e7, knight d6 f8, pawn e6 a7 c7 g7.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 18.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 32 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on c2, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 18, with 3 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, e, g.
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
18. Kb3 Rb6 19. Qh1 Rh8 20. Qxh8
Why it works
- Great move! king to b3 keeps the pressure (+2.3).
- queen to h1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: queen to h8 is the top choice (+2.6).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rb6, then Qh1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 18. Kb3 — king to b3
- Rb6 — rook to b6
- 19. Qh1 — queen to h1
- Rh8 — rook to h8
- 20. Qxh8 — queen to h8 (capture)
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.
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 #753.
SP-753 · 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 g1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, f2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 395.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #753Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-753
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