Chess960 tactic on d5 (e4)
c9-14385naming 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 2120 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 e1, queen e4, rook d1 g1, bishop c1 h1, knight a1, pawn a2 b2 f2 h2 e5 d6 d7.
Black: king b8, queen f8, rook g8, bishop g7, knight d5 a6, pawn g4 c5 h5 f6 a7 b7 e7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 5 points of material (35 against 30; 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 b8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 52 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: c, g.
White 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
23. Qxd5 Qc8 24. dxc8=R+ Kxc8 25. dxe7 fxe5 26. Qxb7#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to d5 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- Spot on — pawn to c8 (#2).
- Precise: pawn to e7 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. queen to b7 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Qc8, then dxc8=R+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 23. Qxd5 — queen to d5 (capture)
- Qc8 — queen to c8
- 24. dxc8=R+ — pawn to c8 (capture) with check
- Kxc8 — king to c8 (capture)
- 25. dxe7 — pawn to e7 (capture)
- fxe5 — pawn to e5 (capture)
- 26. Qxb7# — queen to b7 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Supported queen mate
The queen delivers mate face to face, protected by a friend.
The supported queen mate is the most common pattern of all: the queen lands next to the king and mates because a friendly piece or pawn protects her. The king is helpless — capturing is impossible, and the queen covers every neighboring square herself. Hunt for a protected square beside the enemy king: a knight, bishop or pawn eyeing it turns her invasion into mate. Verify one thing — that the square really is defended, or the king eats her.
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #71.
SP-71 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on f1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 882.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 20 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +37 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #71Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-71
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