Winning blow: king to d2 (e1·14)
c9-14578naming 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 1060 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
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 e1, queen g1, rook c1 h1, bishop a1 c4, pawn b2 c2 g2 h2 a3 f3 e4 d5.
Black: king f7, queen a2, rook c8 h8, bishop d2 a8, knight d8, pawn f5 g6 a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 h7.
14 white and 15 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 10.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (33 against 36; 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 f7.
It is White to move on move 10, with 5 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 8. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
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
10. Kxd2 Qxc4 11. b3 Qa6 12. Bxh8
Why it works
- Great move! king to d2 keeps the pressure (+4.0).
- Well found: pawn to b3 (+4.2).
- Strong! bishop to h8 is the sharp choice (+4.5).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qxc4, then b3 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 10. Kxd2 — king to d2 (capture)
- Qxc4 — queen to c4 (capture)
- 11. b3 — pawn to b3
- Qa6 — queen to a6
- 12. Bxh8 — bishop to h8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
First-rank tactic
Pieces still on their starting rank become targets of a first-rank strike.
The first-rank tactic: enemy pieces that never left their starting rank become targets themselves. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they block each other and are often defended by nobody. Look for a strike along the first or eighth rank — a rook or queen that breaks through harvests the undeveloped pieces. The mistake is treating the back rank as a safe "rear area": in Chess960 it can be the most vulnerable place on the board.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #162.
SP-162 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 791.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #162Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-162
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