Winning blow: pawn to h5 (g4)
c9-16083naming 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 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.
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 g1, rook f1, knight b3, pawn c2 e3 g4 a7.
Black: king g7, queen h5, bishop c3, knight d6, pawn e4 b5 d5 e5 c6.
7 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (12 against 20; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 38, with 26 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, d.
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
38. gxh5 Bb4 39. a8=Q
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to h5 keeps the pressure (+9.1).
- pawn to a8 develops smoothly.
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bb4, then a8=Q and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 38. gxh5 — pawn to h5 (capture)
- Bb4 — bishop to b4
- 39. a8=Q — pawn to a8
Types in this puzzle
Promotion
The pawn reaches the last rank and becomes a queen — decisively.
Promotion turns a pawn on the last rank into a queen and rewrites the evaluation on the spot. In tactics the passer rarely walks in for free — usually a sacrifice clears its path. Count the tempi: how many moves does the pawn need, and can the defender stop it in time? And watch the promotion square itself — it must be out of enemy reach or won by force in your combination.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #433.
SP-433 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
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: d2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 715.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 99 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: -4 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 53.0% (95% CI 39.5–66.1%).
Explore position #433Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 004 · SP-433
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