Winning blow: knight to g5 (e4·2)
c9-18531naming 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 920 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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 e1, queen e6, rook c1 g1, bishop a1 g2, knight f2 e4, pawn a2 d2 b3 e3 c4 g4 f5.
Black: king g7, queen b8, rook c8 d8, bishop e7 a8, knight g5 c6, pawn a4 e5 b6 f6 c7 h7.
15 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 16.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (38 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 e1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 16, with 45 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: h.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
16. Nxg5 fxg5 17. Bxc6
Why it works
- Great move! knight to g5 keeps the pressure (+7.3).
- Spot on — bishop to c6 (+8.2).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead fxg5, then Bxc6 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 16. Nxg5 — knight to g5 (capture)
- fxg5 — pawn to g5 (capture)
- 17. Bxc6 — bishop to c6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #578.
SP-578 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on b1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 279.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 1 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +56 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 62.0% (95% CI 48.2–74.1%).
Explore position #578Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 005 · SP-578
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