Winning blow: queen to c5 (a3·2)
c9-19416naming 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 1560 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 g3, queen a3, rook h8, bishop d3 e7, knight e2 f4, pawn b2 c3 a4 e4.
Black: king d7, queen a8, bishop d1 b8, knight g4, pawn c5 f5 a7 b7 g7.
11 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 7 points of material (30 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 g3, the black king on d7.
It is White to move on move 20, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f, g.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. Qxc5 Bxf4+ 21. Nxf4 Qxh8 22. Bb5#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c5 keeps the pressure (#2).
- Spot on — knight to f4 (#1).
- Strong! bishop to b5 is the sharp choice (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 3.
- If instead Bxf4+, then Nxf4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 20. Qxc5 — queen to c5 (capture)
- Bxf4+ — bishop to f4 (capture) with check
- 21. Nxf4 — knight to f4 (capture)
- Qxh8 — queen to h8 (capture)
- 22. Bb5# — bishop to b5 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Two-bishop mate
The bishop pair sweeps two adjacent diagonals — the king has nowhere to hide.
The two-bishop mate rakes two adjacent diagonals: one bishop mates while the other seals off the escape squares. The bishops complement each other perfectly — living on opposite colors, together they cover an unbroken strip of the board. The pattern usually appears at the edge or in the corner where the king was pressed beforehand. Treasure the bishop pair until the attack comes — on an open board two adjacent diagonals become a solid wall.
Mate in 3
A forced checkmate in three moves.
Mate in three is a forced staircase: each of your moves narrows the opponent's choices, and the third one ends the game. Look for the start among checks and sacrifices — quiet first moves are rare in mating problems, but deliciously sneaky. Keep the tree in your head: every defense gets its own branch. Do not stop calculating after move two — see the final mating picture with your own eyes.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #204.
SP-204 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 668.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 93 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: 0 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 46.0% (95% CI 33.0–59.6%).
Explore position #204Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-204
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads