Winning blow: queen to c1 (a3)
c9-17078naming 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, queen a3, rook f2, bishop c2 g3, knight h4, pawn g2 h2 d3 a4 e4 d6.
Black: king g8, queen c6, rook c8 f8, bishop c1 a6, knight e8, pawn g4 b6 h6 a7 f7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (29 against 33; 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 31 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, f.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Qxc1 Nxd6 22. Qf4 Qc3 23. Qxg4+ Kh8 24. Bxd6
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c1 keeps the pressure (+3.2).
- Spot on — queen to f4 (+3.0).
- Precise: queen to g4 is the top choice (+3.4).
- Best move. bishop to d6 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Nxd6, then Qf4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Qxc1 — queen to c1 (capture)
- Nxd6 — knight to d6 (capture)
- 22. Qf4 — queen to f4
- Qc3 — queen to c3
- 23. Qxg4+ — queen to g4 (capture) with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 24. Bxd6 — bishop to d6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #485.
SP-485 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 570.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 99 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +3 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 51.0% (95% CI 37.6–64.3%).
Explore position #485Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-485
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