Winning blow: pawn to g7 (g6·12)
c9-16979naming 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 2060 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 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 e2, rook d8, bishop h1 f6, knight c4 h4 h7, pawn a2 h2 b3 g3 g6.
Black: king c7, queen b7, pawn a5 c5 c6.
12 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 13 points of material (25 against 12; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on c7.
It is White to move on move 31, with 55 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 8 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. g7 Qb6 32. g8=Q Kb7 33. Nd6+
Why it works
- Sensible development: pawn to g7.
- pawn to g8 develops smoothly.
- Precise: knight to d6 is the top choice (#3).
- You win decisive material (+15.0).
- If instead Qc8, then g8=Q and you win the pawn.
Move by move
- 31. g7 — pawn to g7
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 #299.
SP-299 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on a1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 369.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #299Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-299
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