Winning blow: rook to d7 (d8·3)
c9-16291naming 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 f2, rook d8, pawn e2 g3 f4 g5.
Black: king h7, rook b1 d7, pawn b5 e6 g7.
6 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (9 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f2, the black king on h7.
It is White to move on move 38, with 16 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
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
38. Rxd7 Kg6 39. Re7 e5 40. Re6+ Kh5 41. Rxe5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d7 keeps the pressure (+3.6).
- Spot on — rook to e7 (+3.4).
- Precise: rook to e6 is the top choice (+3.1).
- Best move. rook to e5 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.7).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kg6, then Re7 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 38. Rxd7 — rook to d7 (capture)
- Kg6 — king to g6
- 39. Re7 — rook to e7
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 40. Re6+ — rook to e6 with check
- Kh5 — king to h5
- 41. Rxe5 — rook to e5 (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.
Rook endgame
The most common endgame — activity decides everything.
The rook endgame is the most common of all: rooks and pawns on the board. Its first law is activity — a rook behind a passed pawn beats a rook passively babysitting one. The sign of a correct plan is that your rook is attacking something, not guarding something. The typical error is locking your rook into defense: it is often better to give up a pawn and keep your rook and king active.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #429.
SP-429 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on c1.
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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 728.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 100 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: 0 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 50.0% (95% CI 36.6–63.4%).
Explore position #429Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-429
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