Winning blow: bishop to a7 (e3)
c9-18502naming 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.
A piece strikes across the board from its Chess960 starting square.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 1250 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.
From some Chess960 setups a bishop or queen rakes a long diagonal straight from move one. Trace those long-range lines into the enemy camp: a single opened file or diagonal can create an immediate pin, skewer or mating threat.
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 d1 f1, bishop h1 e3, knight e1 b3, pawn a2 b2 c2 f2 g2 h2 e5.
Black: king e8, rook b8 g8, bishop c8 h8, knight h7 a8, pawn h5 a6 g6 b7 c7 e7 f7.
14 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 10.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 29 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 10, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
10. Ba7 Bg4 11. f3 Bd7 12. Bxb8
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to a7 keeps the pressure (+5.2).
- Well found: pawn to f3 (+5.3).
- Precise: bishop to b8 is the top choice (+5.2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Bg4, then f3 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 10. Ba7 — bishop to a7
- Bg4 — bishop to g4
- 11. f3 — pawn to f3
- Bd7 — bishop to d7
- 12. Bxb8 — bishop to b8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Long-range opener
From its unusual home square a long-range piece strikes across the board.
The long-range opener: a bishop, rook or queen strikes across the whole board straight from its starting area. In Chess960 the long-range pieces sit on unfamiliar squares, and a single pawn move can uncover a shot deep into the enemy camp. In the opening, trace with your eyes the diagonals and files of every long-range piece — yours and theirs. The mistake is pushing a pawn without checking whose line you have just opened.
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
Development punish
Half the army still asleep — the attack breaks through.
Punishing lazy development: half of your opponent's army is asleep on its starting squares, which means you outnumber him where the fight is. Count not the pieces on the board but the pieces in play — if five or more of his pieces have never moved, look for a forcing attack. The sign is a development lead plus open lines toward his king. Strike immediately: give him two quiet moves and the advantage evaporates.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #135.
SP-135 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on d1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
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 818.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #135Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-135
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