Winning blow: rook to g3 (e3·6)
c9-14096naming 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 2060 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 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 f1, queen h7, rook e3, bishop f2, pawn h3 b4 c5.
Black: king f7, knight g7, pawn d4 b5 c6 f6 a7.
7 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 12 points of material (20 against 8; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 33, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d, f.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33. Rg3 Ke6 34. Rxg7 Kd5 35. Rd7+
Why it works
- Sensible development: rook to g3.
- Spot on — rook to g7 (#4).
- Precise: rook to d7 is the top choice (#3).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Ke6, then Rxg7 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 33. Rg3 — rook to g3
Types in this puzzle
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 #221.
SP-221 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 648.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #221Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-221
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