Winning blow: pawn to f6 (g5·10)
c9-13971naming 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 1200 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 e1, queen d1, rook d3, bishop g6, knight f5, pawn c2 d2 a3 e3 b4 g5.
Black: king h8, queen d7, rook d8 f8, bishop d4 e4, knight f6, pawn b5 e5 a7 g7.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (26 against 32; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
28. gxf6 Qxf5 29. Bxf5 Bxf5 30. Qh5+ Kg8 31. Qxf5
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to f6 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- Well found: bishop to f5 (+5.1).
- Strong! queen to h5 is the sharp choice (+5.1).
- Great move! queen to f5 keeps the pressure (+4.9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxf5, then Bxf5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 28. gxf6 — pawn to f6 (capture)
- Qxf5 — queen to f5 (capture)
- 29. Bxf5 — bishop to f5 (capture)
- Bxf5 — bishop to f5 (capture)
- 30. Qh5+ — queen to h5 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 31. Qxf5 — queen to f5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
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.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #881.
SP-881 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on c1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
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 3 pawns with no defender at all: a2, g2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 75.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #881Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-881
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