Chess960 tactic on h7 (h4·3)
c9-16357naming 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.
Mate: a forcing sequence that ends the game — the king has no escape.
Mate in 4: a forced checkmate in four moves — every reply is covered.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
Difficulty 2350 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 is a forced mating attack. Start from the enemy king: which of its squares are already covered, and which move takes away the rest while keeping the king in check? Forcing moves — checks and captures — are what turn an attack into mate.
A mate in four is a longer forced net: each of your moves is a check or an irresistible threat, and the king is driven step by step to a square where it is finally trapped. Verify that the defender has exactly one reply at every branch.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 h4, rook d5, bishop d4, pawn d2 e2 h2 f3 g6.
Black: king g7, queen c6, rook f6 g8.
9 white and 4 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (22 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 31, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 0. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Rd8+ Qe8 33. Bc5+ Rd6 34. Bxd6#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to h7 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- Spot on — rook to d8 (#2).
- Precise: bishop to c5 is the top choice (#1).
- Best move. bishop to d6 is exactly what the engine plays (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 4.
- If instead Kf8, then Rd8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31. Qh7+ — queen to h7 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 32. Rd8+ — rook to d8 with check
- Qe8 — queen to e8
- 33. Bc5+ — bishop to c5 with check
- Rd6 — rook to d6
- 34. Bxd6# — bishop to d6 (capture) and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 4+
A long forced mating combination.
Mate in four or longer is a marathon of forcing moves where the grip must never loosen. The tools are the same: checks, double threats and sacrifices that deny the opponent a single free tempo. Do not juggle the whole tree at once — walk the main line all the way to mate first, then verify the side branches. If somewhere the defender finds one quiet move that holds, your very first move was wrong.
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #237.
SP-237 · ThroneScout — Centre-file king, rim knight: 204 of the 960 positions share this pattern.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 632.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #237Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-237
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