Winning blow: bishop to h3 (d7)
c9-15839naming 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 1200 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 e1, queen c5, rook a1 h1, bishop f4 d7, knight e5, pawn b2 f2 h2 c3 d4 a5.
Black: king d8, queen g8, rook a8 h8, bishop h3 c7, knight d6, pawn h5 a6 f6 b7 e7 h7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 34 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 48 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): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e.
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
21. Bxh3 fxe5 22. dxe5 Qc4 23. Qe3 Rf8 24. exd6
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to h3 keeps the pressure (+5.5).
- Well found: pawn to e5 (+5.6).
- A natural move: queen to e3.
- Best move. pawn to d6 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.7).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead fxe5, then dxe5 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Bxh3 — bishop to h3 (capture)
- fxe5 — pawn to e5 (capture)
- 22. dxe5 — pawn to e5 (capture)
- Qc4 — queen to c4
- 23. Qe3 — queen to e3
- Rf8 — rook to f8
- 24. exd6 — pawn to d6 (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 #693.
SP-693 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on b1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 458.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #693Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-693
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