Winning blow: bishop to a6 (d3·5)
c9-15914naming 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 2200 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 e2, queen c6, rook c1, bishop a1 d3, knight e4, pawn c2 h2 g4 c5.
Black: king b8, queen a2, rook d8 e8, knight h8, pawn e5 f6 a7 c7 g7 h7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (27 against 28; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 22, with 43 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): b, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, e, f.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 7 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
22. Ba6 Qxa6+ 23. Qxa6
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to a6 keeps the pressure (#6).
- Well found: queen to a6 (#5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxa6+, then Qxa6 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 22. Ba6 — bishop to a6
- Qxa6+ — queen to a6 (capture) with check
- 23. Qxa6 — queen to a6 (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 #834.
SP-834 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on g1.
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 BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 119.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #834Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-834
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads