Winning blow: queen to c3 (a5)
c9-14464naming 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 920 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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 e2, queen a5, bishop g1 d3, knight f5, pawn g2 h2 f3 e4 b6.
Black: king c6, queen e6, rook d8, knight c7 d7, pawn g5 a6 f6 h7.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (23 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on c6.
It is White to move on move 32, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32. Qc3+ Nc5 33. Qxc5+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c3 keeps the pressure (#8).
- Well found: queen to c5 (#7).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Nc5, then Qxc5+ and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 32. Qc3+ — queen to c3 with check
- Nc5 — knight to c5
- 33. Qxc5+ — queen to c5 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #348.
SP-348 · 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 f1, the queen on e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: b2, g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 332.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 1 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +62 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 56.0% (95% CI 42.3–68.8%).
Explore position #348Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 004 · SP-348
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