Winning blow: rook to b4 (b5·3)
c9-14968naming 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 1430 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 g1, queen d4, rook f1 b5, bishop b1 g3, knight h1 e4, pawn a2 d2 g2 b3 e3 h4 f5.
Black: king a6, queen c7, rook c8 e8, bishop a3 g8, knight d6 f7, pawn b4 c6 f6 a7 e7 g7 h7.
15 white and 15 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 18.
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 a6.
It is White to move on move 18, with 46 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
18. Rxb4 Bxb4 19. Qxb4 Qb6 20. Nc5+ Qxc5 21. Qxc5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to b4 keeps the pressure (+6.5).
- Well found: queen to b4 (+6.4).
- Strong! knight to c5 is the sharp choice (+6.4).
- Best move. queen to c5 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxb4, then Qxb4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 18. Rxb4 — rook to b4 (capture)
- Bxb4 — bishop to b4 (capture)
- 19. Qxb4 — queen to b4 (capture)
- Qb6 — queen to b6
- 20. Nc5+ — knight to c5 with check
- Qxc5 — queen to c5 (capture)
- 21. Qxc5 — queen to c5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #876.
SP-876 · 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 e1, the queen on a1.
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.
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 92.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 18 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +38 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #876Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-876
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