Winning blow: rook to c6 (c1·5)
c9-19552naming 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 1060 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 b1, rook c1 b3, knight g3, pawn b2 h2 a4 d4 e4.
Black: king a7, queen c6, rook a6 e8, knight g8, pawn a5 d5 b6 g6.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (18 against 26; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on a7.
It is White to move on move 26, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26. Rxc6 b5 27. Rc7+ Ka8 28. axb5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c6 keeps the pressure (+3.4).
- Spot on — rook to c7 (+3.5).
- Precise: pawn to b5 is the top choice (+3.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead b5, then Rc7+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 26. Rxc6 — rook to c6 (capture)
- b5 — pawn to b5
- 27. Rc7+ — rook to c7 with check
- Ka8 — king to a8
- 28. axb5 — pawn to b5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #927.
SP-927 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and c1, the queen on d1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The pawn on b2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 32.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 3 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +52 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #927Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-927
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