Winning blow: rook to e8 (e1·6)
c9-15516naming 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.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 1060 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.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 c1, queen a6, rook a1 e1, knight b2 f2, pawn d2 g2 h2 c3 f3 a5.
Black: king d8, queen f5, rook a8 e8, bishop c7 g8, pawn d4 c6 g6 a7 d7 g7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 31 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on c1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 15, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
Black 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
15. Rxe8+ Kxe8 16. Qb7 dxc3 17. Qxa8+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e8 keeps the pressure (+3.1).
- Well found: queen to b7 (+3.6).
- Precise: queen to a8 is the top choice (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kxe8, then Qb7 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 15. Rxe8+ — rook to e8 (capture) with check
- Kxe8 — king to e8 (capture)
- 16. Qb7 — queen to b7
- dxc3 — pawn to c3 (capture)
- 17. Qxa8+ — queen to a8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
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 #844.
SP-844 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and e1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 124.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #844Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-844
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