Winning blow: pawn to d5 (e4·17)
c9-16359naming 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 b2, rook d1 e1, bishop f1, knight b5, pawn a2 c2 d2 g2 h2 a3 e4.
Black: king d8, rook a8 e8, bishop d5 g5, knight c6, pawn b6 g6 b7 d7 h7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (23 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b2, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 20, with 28 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. exd5 Rxe1 21. Rxe1 Bxd2 22. Rd1 Bf4 23. dxc6
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to d5 keeps the pressure (+3.8).
- Well found: rook to e1 (+3.9).
- A natural move: rook to d1.
- Great move! pawn to c6 keeps the pressure (+3.7).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rxe1, then Rxe1 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 20. exd5 — pawn to d5 (capture)
- Rxe1 — rook to e1 (capture)
- 21. Rxe1 — rook to e1 (capture)
- Bxd2 — bishop to d2 (capture)
- 22. Rd1 — rook to d1
- Bf4 — bishop to f4
- 23. dxc6 — pawn to c6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
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.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #350.
SP-350 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
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 324.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #350Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-350
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