Winning blow: pawn to g4 (g3·8)
c9-15370naming 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 1560 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 e2, rook h1 b6, bishop a1, knight b3 e5, pawn f2 h2 g3 c4 d5.
Black: king f5, bishop c7, knight c2, pawn h3 g5 f6.
11 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 15 points of material (24 against 9; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on f5.
It is White to move on move 30, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
30. g4+ Kf4 31. Rxf6+ Ke4 32. f3#
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to g4 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — rook to f6 (#1).
- Precise: pawn to f3 is the top choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Kf4, then Rxf6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 30. g4+ — pawn to g4 with check
- Kf4 — king to f4
- 31. Rxf6+ — rook to f6 (capture) with check
- Ke4 — king to e4
- 32. f3# — pawn to f3 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Pawn mate
The humblest soldier delivers the final blow.
The pawn mate lets the humblest soldier land the final blow. It happens to a king stuck among its own and enemy pieces: the pawn strikes diagonally from one square away and there is nowhere left to run. The sign: the squares around the king are covered or occupied, and your pawn stands one step from striking distance. Never write pawns out of your attack — their blows are the cheapest and therefore the most humiliating.
Mate in 3
A forced checkmate in three moves.
Mate in three is a forced staircase: each of your moves narrows the opponent's choices, and the third one ends the game. Look for the start among checks and sacrifices — quiet first moves are rare in mating problems, but deliciously sneaky. Keep the tree in your head: every defense gets its own branch. Do not stop calculating after move two — see the final mating picture with your own eyes.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #146.
SP-146 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
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 RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 807.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 18 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +38 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #146Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-146
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