Winning blow: pawn to d5 (c4·12)
c9-17648naming 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 e1 f1, bishop a3, pawn a2 c3 g3 h3 c4.
Black: king e7, rook b8 f8, bishop e6, knight f6, pawn c5 d5 g5 h6 a7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (18 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 g1, the black king on e7.
It is White to move on move 27, with 25 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): b, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
27. cxd5 Kd6 28. Rxe6+ Kxd5 29. Rexf6 Rxf6 30. Rxf6
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to d5 keeps the pressure (+3.6).
- Well found: rook to e6 (+3.8).
- Precise: rook to f6 is the top choice (+3.9).
- Great move! rook to f6 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kd6, then Rxe6+ and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 27. cxd5 — pawn to d5 (capture)
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 28. Rxe6+ — rook to e6 (capture) with check
- Kxd5 — king to d5 (capture)
- 29. Rexf6 — rook to f6 (capture)
- Rxf6 — rook to f6 (capture)
- 30. Rxf6 — rook to f6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Absolute pin
A piece is pinned against its king — it cannot legally move.
An absolute pin freezes a piece on the line between its own king and your long-range attacker: moving it is simply illegal. The pattern is three units on one straight line — your bishop, rook or queen, an enemy piece, and the enemy king behind it. A pinned piece neither attacks nor defends anything: treat it as if it were off the board. Pile up on it, ideally with a pawn, because running away is against the rules.
Trapped piece
The attacked piece has no safe square — it is caught.
Trapping a piece means the attacked piece has no safe square left — it simply perishes. Do not chase it around; build a cage instead: cut off the escape squares with pawns and pieces first, and attack last. The typical victim has wandered deep into your camp or is stuck at the edge of the board, where its mobility is tiny. And always check the way home for your own raiders — or the trapped piece will be yours.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #661.
SP-661 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 202.
The engine's main line opens with Nc3, bringing the knight out to c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #661Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-661
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