Winning blow: bishop to b4 (e1·3)
c9-13724naming 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 1250 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 g1, queen b3, rook d6, bishop e1, knight e4, pawn e2 f2 g2 h4 b5.
Black: king f8, queen b8, rook d8 h8, bishop d7, knight a8, pawn e5 h5 f6 a7 b7 g7.
10 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (25 against 31; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 49 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a.
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
23. Bb4 Be6 24. Rd7+ Qd6 25. Bxd6+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to b4 keeps the pressure (#3).
- Spot on — rook to d7 (#3).
- Precise: bishop to d6 is the top choice (#2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Be6, then Rd7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 23. Bb4 — bishop to b4
- Be6 — bishop to e6
- 24. Rd7+ — rook to d7 with check
- Qd6 — queen to d6
- 25. Bxd6+ — bishop to d6 (capture) with check
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.
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.
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #121.
SP-121 · RampartScout — A wing-file king (b or g) and at least one corner knight: the rarest of the six families, just 72 positions.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 841.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #121Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-121
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