Chess960 tactic on d7 (d1·3)
c9-14575naming 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 2250 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 g2, queen d8, rook d1, bishop b7, knight h1, pawn h2 g3 b4 g5.
Black: king g7, rook f5, pawn f4 e6 a7.
9 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 16 points of material (24 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 g2, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 32, with 49 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, e, f.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32. Rd7+ Rf7 33. Qf6+ Kg8 34. Qxf7+ Kh8 35. Rd8#
Why it works
- Best move. rook to d7 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- Spot on — queen to f6 (#2).
- Precise: queen to f7 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. rook to d8 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Rf7, then Qf6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 32. Rd7+ — rook to d7 with check
- Rf7 — rook to f7
- 33. Qf6+ — queen to f6 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 34. Qxf7+ — queen to f7 (capture) with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 35. Rd8# — rook to d8 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Ladder mate
Two heavy pieces climb line by line, cutting off every retreat.
The ladder mate uses two heavy pieces climbing rung by rung: one cuts the king off along a line, the other checks on the next line, driving him toward the edge. It is the classic two-rook technique — check, the king retreats one rank, the other rook checks, until mate on the last rank. The only danger is the king creeping close enough to attack one of your rooks. If it does, simply slide that rook to the far side of the same line.
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.
Corner mate
Driven into the corner, the king runs out of squares.
The corner mate catches a king driven into the corner, where it has only three neighboring squares — all of them taken away or blocked. The corner is the worst home for a king, because the attacker needs to control the fewest squares there. Herd the king toward the corner with checks and never let it slip back toward the center. Cut off the escape routes before the final check, and the mate practically assembles itself.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #604.
SP-604 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on c1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- 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 268.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 0 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +81 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 63.0% (95% CI 49.1–75.0%).
Explore position #604Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-604
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