Winning blow: king to d1 (c1·14)
c9-17385naming 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 c1, queen e7, pawn a2 g2 h2 b3 e3 f3 c4 e5.
Black: king c8, queen a8, rook d1, bishop b8, pawn h5 a7 b7 g7.
10 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (17 against 21; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 3 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Kxd1 b5 25. Qf8+ Kc7 26. e6 bxc4 27. Qxg7+
Why it works
- Great move! king to d1 keeps the pressure (+6.6).
- Spot on — queen to f8 (+6.4).
- A natural move: pawn to e6.
- Best move. queen to g7 is exactly what the engine plays (+7.8).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead b5, then Qf8+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 24. Kxd1 — king to d1 (capture)
- b5 — pawn to b5
- 25. Qf8+ — queen to f8 with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 26. e6 — pawn to e6
- bxc4 — pawn to c4 (capture)
- 27. Qxg7+ — queen to g7 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #772.
SP-772 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 190.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #772Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-772
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