Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b7 (g2·6)
c9-13856naming 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 in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
Uncastled king: the enemy king is stuck in the centre — punish it before it castles.
Difficulty 1670 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.
Mate in two usually opens with a forcing move — a check, a capture or an unstoppable threat — that strips the king of squares or defenders, so the follow-up mate becomes unavoidable. Look for the first move that leaves the opponent only losing replies.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
An uncastled king in the centre is a standing target. Look for ways to open the central files and diagonals against it with checks and threats before it can shelter — every tempo the king spends in the middle is a chance for a combination.
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 b1, queen g2, rook a1 c1, bishop h1 f2, knight b4 g4, pawn b2 h2 c3 a6 e6.
Black: king b8, queen g5, rook a8 c8, bishop e5 g8, knight c7 d8, pawn c4 b6 g6 a7 h7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 16.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 36 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on b1, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 16, with 42 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): d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
16. Qb7+ Nxb7 17. Nc6#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to b7 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Well found: knight to c6 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Nxb7, then Nc6# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 16. Qb7+ — queen to b7 with check
- Nxb7 — knight to b7 (capture)
- 17. Nc6# — knight to c6 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Smothered mate
The king is buried under its own pieces — only a knight can reach it.
The smothered mate suffocates a king buried under its own army: every neighboring square is blocked by friendly pieces, and the knight — needing no open lines — delivers the blow. The classic mechanism: knight check, king hides in the corner, a queen sacrifice forces a rook to plug the last hole, and the knight mates. Look for a cornered king surrounded by its own pieces and a knight one hop away. Do not mourn the queen — she only opens the door.
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
Mate in 2
A forced checkmate in two moves.
Mate in two: your move, any reply, then the mating blow. Start with the most forcing first moves — checks and sacrifices that shrink the opponent's options to almost nothing. Against every single reply you must have a mate ready, so check them all without exception. The common failure is analyzing the pretty defense and forgetting the boring one.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #959.
SP-959 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and c1, the queen on f1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 0.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #959Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-959
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads