Winning blow: rook to c7 (c6·4)
c9-16974naming 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 1430 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 d1, queen c1, rook c6, bishop a1, pawn d2 h2 a3 f3 b4.
Black: king d7, queen e8, rook b6, knight f8, pawn a5 f6 c7 g7 h7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 22 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on d1, the black king on d7.
It is White to move on move 22, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, g.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
22. Rxc7+ Kd8 23. Rc8+ Ke7 24. Qc5+ Kf7 25. Rxe8
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c7 keeps the pressure (+8.6).
- Well found: rook to c8 (+8.8).
- Precise: queen to c5 is the top choice (+9.0).
- Great move! rook to e8 keeps the pressure (+9.3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kd8, then Rc8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 22. Rxc7+ — rook to c7 (capture) with check
- Kd8 — king to d8
- 23. Rc8+ — rook to c8 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 24. Qc5+ — queen to c5 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 25. Rxe8 — rook to e8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #882.
SP-882 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, 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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 71.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #882Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-882
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