Winning blow: knight to f5 (e3·25)
c9-14864naming 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 1980 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 g1, queen c1, rook d1 e1, bishop h1 c3, knight b1 e3, pawn a2 b2 e2 f2 h2 g3 d5.
Black: king g8, queen c8, rook d8 f8, bishop b5 h8, knight d7 a8, pawn a4 c5 d6 g6 e7 f7 h7.
15 white and 15 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 11.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 38 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 11, with 35 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.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
11. Nf5 Rfe8 12. Nh6+ Kf8 13. Bxh8
Why it works
- Great move! knight to f5 keeps the pressure (+5.5).
- Well found: knight to h6 (+5.6).
- Strong! bishop to h8 is the sharp choice (+5.8).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Rfe8, then Nh6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 11. Nf5 — knight to f5
- Rfe8 — rook to e8
- 12. Nh6+ — knight to h6 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 13. Bxh8 — bishop to h8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
Development punish
Half the army still asleep — the attack breaks through.
Punishing lazy development: half of your opponent's army is asleep on its starting squares, which means you outnumber him where the fight is. Count not the pieces on the board but the pieces in play — if five or more of his pieces have never moved, look for a forcing attack. The sign is a development lead plus open lines toward his king. Strike immediately: give him two quiet moves and the advantage evaporates.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #43.
SP-43 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on c1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
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 BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 913.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #43Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-43
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