Chess960 tactic on e8 (e4)
c9-15090naming 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 2120 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 g1, queen d7, rook e4, bishop c1 a8, pawn b2 g2 d3 a4 f4.
Black: king g8, queen g3, pawn d4 a5 b6 g6 f7.
10 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 11 points of material (25 against 14; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 35 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
28. Re8+ Kg7 29. Qxd4+ f6 30. Qd7+ Kh6 31. Rh8#
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e8 keeps the pressure (#3).
- Spot on — queen to d4 (#2).
- Precise: queen to d7 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. rook to h8 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Kg7, then Qxd4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Re8+ — rook to e8 with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 29. Qxd4+ — queen to d4 (capture) with check
- f6 — pawn to f6
- 30. Qd7+ — queen to d7 with check
- Kh6 — king to h6
- 31. Rh8# — rook to h8 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #388.
SP-388 · RampartGuard — Both knights begin on inner files while the king sits on the wing (b/g); mirror twins stay together in this family.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 766.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #388Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-388
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads