Winning blow: rook to a1 (e1·4)
c9-16628naming 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 1750 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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, queen c3, rook e1 h1, knight c2 a3, pawn g2 b4 e4 f5 h6.
Black: king g8, queen a2, rook e5 f8, bishop d7, knight a8, pawn d5 a6 f6 g6 b7 f7 h7.
11 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (30 against 32; 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 g8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Ra1 Rc8 22. Qxc8+ Bxc8 23. Rxa2
Why it works
- Great move! rook to a1 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Well found: queen to c8 (+4.5).
- Strong! rook to a2 is the sharp choice (+4.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rc8, then Qxc8+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 21. Ra1 — rook to a1
- Rc8 — rook to c8
- 22. Qxc8+ — queen to c8 (capture) with check
- Bxc8 — bishop to c8 (capture)
- 23. Rxa2 — rook to a2 (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 #38.
SP-38 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest family.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 918.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 93 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +11 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #38Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-38
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads