Winning blow: rook to g8 (g6·5)
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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 1930 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 h2, queen g1, rook g6, bishop h1, knight f3, pawn a2 c2 e2 f2 c3 d3.
Black: king f8, queen a8, rook c8, bishop f5, knight h7, pawn h3 d6 f6 a7 b7 c7 e7.
11 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (26 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h2, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 17, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, h.
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
17. Rg8+ Kf7 18. Qg7+ Ke6 19. Nd4+ Kd7 20. Nxf5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g8 keeps the pressure (#12).
- Well found: queen to g7 (#11).
- Strong! knight to d4 is the sharp choice (#10).
- Great move! knight to f5 keeps the pressure (#9).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Kf7, then Qg7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 17. Rg8+ — rook to g8 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 18. Qg7+ — queen to g7 with check
- Ke6 — king to e6
- 19. Nd4+ — knight to d4 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 20. Nxf5 — knight to f5 (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 #391.
SP-391 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on a1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 754.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #391Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-391
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