Winning blow: knight to b5 (c3·13)
c9-18311naming 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 h1, rook d1 e1, bishop d2, knight c3 d5, pawn b2 c2 h2 a3 g3 e4 f4.
Black: king d8, queen h8, rook a6 f8, bishop b5 g7, knight b7 b8, pawn a5 h5 d6 g6 e7 f7.
14 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 16.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (35 against 37; 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 d8.
It is White to move on move 16, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: d.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
16. Nxb5 Bxb2+ 17. Kb1 e6 18. e5 Bxa3 19. Nxa3
Why it works
- Great move! knight to b5 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- king to b1 develops smoothly.
- A natural move: pawn to e5.
- Best move. knight to a3 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.0).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Bxb2+, then Kb1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 16. Nxb5 — knight to b5 (capture)
- Bxb2+ — bishop to b2 (capture) with check
- 17. Kb1 — king to b1
- e6 — pawn to e6
- 18. e5 — pawn to e5
- Bxa3 — bishop to a3 (capture)
- 19. Nxa3 — knight to a3 (capture)
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 #470.
SP-470 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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 f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 678.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #470Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-470
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads