Winning blow: knight to c5 (d3·21)
c9-15375naming 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 1890 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 d5, rook a1, knight d3, pawn c2 g2 h2.
Black: king c7, queen b8, rook e2, knight g6, pawn b4 d4 b5 f6 d7 h7.
7 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (20 against 23; 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 c7.
It is White to move on move 28, with 48 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, d, f.
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. Nc5 Rxg2+ 29. Kf1 Ne5 30. Na6+ Kd8 31. Nxb8
Why it works
- Great move! knight to c5 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- king to f1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: knight to a6 is the top choice (+6.4).
- Great move! knight to b8 keeps the pressure (+7.2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rxg2+, then Kf1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Nc5 — knight to c5
- Rxg2+ — rook to g2 (capture) with check
- 29. Kf1 — king to f1
- Ne5 — knight to e5
- 30. Na6+ — knight to a6 with check
- Kd8 — king to d8
- 31. Nxb8 — knight to b8 (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.
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?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #834.
SP-834 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
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 BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 119.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #834Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-834
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