Winning blow: queen to g8 (h8)
c9-15412naming 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 1010 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 h8, rook d1, bishop b2 g2, knight a3 d3, pawn a2 e2 b3 c4 d4 f4 g5.
Black: king b8, rook d8 g8, bishop e7 a8, knight f2 c6, pawn d5 a6 e6 g6 b7 c7 f7.
14 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 18.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 4 points of material (33 against 29; 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 b8.
It is White to move on move 18, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
18. Qxg8 Nxd1 19. Qxf7 Nxb2 20. Nc5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g8 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Spot on — queen to f7 (+4.7).
- A natural move: knight to c5.
- You reach a winning position (+4.9).
- If instead Nxd1, then Qxf7 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 18. Qxg8 — queen to g8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #82.
SP-82 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 871.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #82Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-82
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