Winning blow: queen to h3 (h1)
c9-18922naming 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 2060 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 b1 g1, bishop b3 h4, knight g6, pawn a2 b2 f2 c3 e4 h5.
Black: king e8, queen h7, rook d4, knight b6, pawn e5 d6 h6 a7 b7 g7.
13 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 11 points of material (34 against 23; 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: d, g.
White 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
28. Qh3 Rd1+ 29. Rxd1 Qxg6 30. hxg6
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h3 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Spot on — rook to d1 (#3).
- Precise: pawn to g6 is the top choice (#2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rd1+, then Rxd1 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 28. Qh3 — queen to h3
Types in this puzzle
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?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #373.
SP-373 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 298.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 3 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +51 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #373Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-373
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