Winning blow: bishop to g5 (d8)
c9-19303naming 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 h2, queen g2, rook b1 f1, bishop d8, knight f3, pawn a2 b2 d3 g3 c4 h4.
Black: king c8, queen g8, rook g4, bishop f4, knight c7, pawn c5 d5 f5 h5 b6 e6 a7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 4 points of material (31 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 c8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: e, f.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Bg5 Bxg3+ 25. Qxg3 Rxg3 26. Kxg3
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to g5 keeps the pressure (+2.8).
- Well found: queen to g3 (+2.6).
- Strong! king to g3 is the sharp choice (+2.6).
- You reach a winning position (+2.6).
- If instead Rxg3, then Qxg3 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 24. Bg5 — bishop to g5
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 #182.
SP-182 · 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 b1 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: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 774.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #182Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-182
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