Winning blow: queen to g7 (h8·5)
c9-15714naming 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 1250 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 c1, queen h8, rook f1 d2, bishop e1 g2, knight d1 c3, pawn a2 b2 d4 e4.
Black: king c8, queen c7, rook h5 b7, bishop e7 f7, knight d8, pawn c4 d5 a6 c6 e6 f6.
12 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (35 against 34; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, 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
21. Qg7 Rg5 22. Qh6 f5 23. exf5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g7 keeps the pressure (+1.7).
- queen to h6 develops smoothly.
- Precise: pawn to f5 is the top choice (+1.9).
- You reach a winning position (+1.9).
- If instead Rg5, then Qh6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Qg7 — queen to g7
- Rg5 — rook to g5
- 22. Qh6 — queen to h6
- f5 — pawn to f5
- 23. exf5 — pawn to f5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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 #794.
SP-794 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 165.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Morozov Balance Index: 0 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +67 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 62.0% (95% CI 48.2–74.1%).
Explore position #794Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-794
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