Winning blow: knight to f7 (d8)
c9-15717naming 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 920 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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 h2, queen c3, rook e1, bishop d3, knight f2 d8, pawn g2 a3 e3 c4 f4 h4.
Black: king f8, queen d7, rook h8, bishop a7 f7, knight b3 d6, pawn h5 b6 f6 g7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (29 against 30; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h2, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
27. Nxf7 Nxf7 28. Qxb3
Why it works
- Brilliant! The knight on f7 is a sacrifice that works — you stand better (+3.0).
- Well found: queen to b3 (+3.3).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Nxf7, then Qxb3 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 27. Nxf7 — knight to f7 (capture)
- Nxf7 — knight to f7 (capture)
- 28. Qxb3 — queen to b3 (capture)
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.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
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 #138.
SP-138 · RampartScout — King on the wing (b/g) with a knight on the rim (a/h) — the rarest family.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on c1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
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: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 821.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 8 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +45 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #138Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 004 · SP-138
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