Chess960 tactic on c6 (c1·2)
c9-13823naming 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.
Mate: a forcing sequence that ends the game — the king has no escape.
Mate in 4: a forced checkmate in four moves — every reply is covered.
Difficulty 2250 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 is a forced mating attack. Start from the enemy king: which of its squares are already covered, and which move takes away the rest while keeping the king in check? Forcing moves — checks and captures — are what turn an attack into mate.
A mate in four is a longer forced net: each of your moves is a check or an irresistible threat, and the king is driven step by step to a square where it is finally trapped. Verify that the defender has exactly one reply at every branch.
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 c1, rook h1, bishop d2 e2, knight e6, pawn h2 g3 b4 d4 e5.
Black: king a8, queen h7, rook h8, bishop f5 d8, pawn h3 d5 g5 c6 e7.
11 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (28 against 25; 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 a8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Qxc6+ Kb8 25. Ra1 Ba5 26. Rxa5 Bxe6 27. Ra8#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to c6 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- rook to a1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: rook to a5 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. rook to a8 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Kb8, then Ra1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24. Qxc6+ — queen to c6 (capture) with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 25. Ra1 — rook to a1
- Ba5 — bishop to a5
- 26. Rxa5 — rook to a5 (capture)
- Bxe6 — bishop to e6 (capture)
- 27. Ra8# — rook to a8 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 4+
A long forced mating combination.
Mate in four or longer is a marathon of forcing moves where the grip must never loosen. The tools are the same: checks, double threats and sacrifices that deny the opponent a single free tempo. Do not juggle the whole tree at once — walk the main line all the way to mate first, then verify the side branches. If somewhere the defender finds one quiet move that holds, your very first move was wrong.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #265.
SP-265 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 601.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #265Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-265
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads