Winning blow: queen to g6 (e4·2)
c9-14307naming 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 c1, queen e4, rook d1 g1, bishop e1, knight c2, pawn b2 d3 f3 b4 c4 h4.
Black: king h8, queen b3, rook b6 f8, pawn d4 c5 e5 h5 f6 a7 b7 g7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 4 points of material (31 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 8. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: a, e, 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
25. Qg6 Rf7 26. Qxf7 g5 27. hxg5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g6 keeps the pressure (#6).
- Well found: queen to f7 (#5).
- Precise: pawn to g5 is the top choice (#4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rf7, then Qxf7 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 25. Qg6 — queen to g6
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 #264.
SP-264 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on g1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 605.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #264Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-264
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