Winning blow: bishop to b8 (f4·4)
c9-16762naming 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 g1, rook f1, bishop d1 f4, knight c1, pawn a2 b2 e2 f2 g2 c3 d4.
Black: king g8, queen b8, rook h7, bishop d8 e8, knight f5, pawn c5 d5 a7 b7 e7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 14.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (21 against 28; 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 14, with 27 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): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
14. Bxb8 cxd4 15. Bc2 Rf7 16. Bxf5 Rxf5 17. cxd4
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to b8 keeps the pressure (+3.1).
- bishop to c2 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to f5 is the top choice (+3.3).
- Best move. pawn to d4 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead cxd4, then Bc2 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 14. Bxb8 — bishop to b8 (capture)
- cxd4 — pawn to d4 (capture)
- 15. Bc2 — bishop to c2
- Rf7 — rook to f7
- 16. Bxf5 — bishop to f5 (capture)
- Rxf5 — rook to f5 (capture)
- 17. cxd4 — pawn to d4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Relative pin
A piece shields a more valuable one behind it — moving it loses material.
In a relative pin the piece shields not its king but something valuable behind it, usually the queen. Moving is legal but costly, because the piece behind falls. Look for three units on one line: your long-range piece, a cheaper enemy piece, and an expensive one hiding behind. Beware the classic trap — a relatively pinned piece can still move with check or a bigger threat, so verify before you cash in.
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 #25.
SP-25 · RampartScout — A wing-file king (b or g) and at least one corner knight: the rarest of the six families, just 72 positions.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 937.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #25Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-25
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