Winning blow: rook to e6 (e1·9)
c9-17756naming 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 1060 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 b1, queen d3, rook e1 g2, bishop f3, knight b5, pawn b2 a3 c4 g4 h5 d7.
Black: king b6, queen b8, rook f7 f8, bishop g8, knight a6, pawn a4 c5 e6 f6 h6 g7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 31 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on b1, the black king on b6.
It is White to move on move 36, with 55 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: e, f.
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
36. Rxe6+ Ka5 37. Qd2+ Nb4 38. axb4+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e6 keeps the pressure (#6).
- Spot on — queen to d2 (#5).
- Precise: pawn to b4 is the top choice (#4).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Ka5, then Qd2+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 36. Rxe6+ — rook to e6 (capture) with check
- Ka5 — king to a5
- 37. Qd2+ — queen to d2 with check
- Nb4 — knight to b4
- 38. axb4+ — pawn to b4 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #346.
SP-346 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 325.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #346Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-346
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