Winning blow: queen to c2 (e2)
c9-15804naming 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 1290 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 e2, rook b1 h1, bishop a1 f3, knight c3, pawn f2 g2 e3 b4 c4 h5.
Black: king d8, queen c6, rook c2 h8, bishop e4 c7, knight d7 f7, pawn f5 b6 g7 h7.
13 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (34 against 35; 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 d8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 2 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Qxc2 Bxc2 24. Bxc6 Bxb1 25. Kxb1
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c2 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- Well found: bishop to c6 (+4.6).
- Precise: king to b1 is the top choice (+4.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxc2, then Bxc6 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 23. Qxc2 — queen to c2 (capture)
- Bxc2 — bishop to c2 (capture)
- 24. Bxc6 — bishop to c6 (capture)
- Bxb1 — bishop to b1 (capture)
- 25. Kxb1 — king to b1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Deflection
Force the defender away from its duty — then strike what it guarded.
Deflection forces the guard to leave its post: a sacrifice or exchange drags it away from the piece or square it protects. First find the critical defender — the piece whose absence makes the mate or the material win possible. Then find the move it cannot ignore, which is usually a capture. Do not be stingy: if removing the guard wins the queen or mates, the sacrifice pays for itself many times over.
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #721.
SP-721 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on f1.
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 BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 427.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 20 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +37 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #721Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-721
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