Winning blow: queen to e7 (f8·4)
c9-14754naming 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 1290 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 c1, queen f8, knight g6, pawn c2 h2 d3 f4.
Black: king d7, queen a5, rook e7, bishop g8, pawn g4 c5 d6 h6 b7.
7 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (16 against 22; 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 d7.
It is White to move on move 30, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, g.
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
30. Qxe7+ Kc6 31. Qe8+ Kc7 32. Qxg8
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e7 keeps the pressure (+2.5).
- Well found: queen to e8 (+2.5).
- Precise: queen to g8 is the top choice (+3.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kc6, then Qe8+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 30. Qxe7+ — queen to e7 (capture) with check
- Kc6 — king to c6
- 31. Qe8+ — queen to e8 with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 32. Qxg8 — queen to g8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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.
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #587.
SP-587 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on a1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 273.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 11 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +42 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #587Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-587
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