Winning blow: queen to d5 (a8·5)
c9-19522naming 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 b2, queen a8, rook a6, bishop c2, pawn a2 d2 b3 c3.
Black: king f7, queen f2, rook h2, knight f8, pawn c5 g5 e7 g7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 21 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on b2, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 32, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, 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
32. Qd5+ e6 33. Ra7+ Kg8 34. Qe5 Qf6 35. Qxh2
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d5 keeps the pressure (+3.7).
- Well found: rook to a7 (+7.0).
- Strong! queen to e5 is the sharp choice (+7.2).
- Great move! queen to h2 keeps the pressure (+7.5).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead e6, then Ra7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 32. Qd5+ — queen to d5 with check
- e6 — pawn to e6
- 33. Ra7+ — rook to a7 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 34. Qe5 — queen to e5
- Qf6 — queen to f6
- 35. Qxh2 — queen to h2 (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 #740.
SP-740 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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 b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 414.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #740Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-740
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