Winning blow: rook to h7 (g7·7)
c9-18299naming 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 1790 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 f1, queen c2, rook c1 g7, bishop b1 f2, knight f5, pawn a2 h2 b3 f3.
Black: king h8, queen f6, rook d8 f8, bishop f4, pawn a5 h5 c6 b7.
11 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 6 points of material (32 against 26; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 50 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e, g — 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 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Rh7+ Kxh7 24. Ne7+ Qf5 25. Nxf5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h7 keeps the pressure (#15).
- Spot on — knight to e7 (#13).
- Strong! knight to f5 is the sharp choice (#12).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxh7, then Ne7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 23. Rh7+ — rook to h7 with check
- Kxh7 — king to h7 (capture)
- 24. Ne7+ — knight to e7 with check
- Qf5 — queen to f5
- 25. Nxf5 — knight to f5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
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.
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #140.
SP-140 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 828.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #140Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-140
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