Winning blow: bishop to b8 (g3)
c9-19681naming 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 d2, queen a3, bishop c2 g3, pawn a2 e2 g2 b3 f3 b5.
Black: king e8, rook h1, bishop f5 b8, knight c5 d8, pawn d5 g5 b6 f6 a7 e7.
10 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (21 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 d2, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 28 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
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
25. Bxb8 Bxc2 26. Kxc2 Nde6 27. Qxa7
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to b8 keeps the pressure (+2.7).
- Spot on — king to c2 (+2.9).
- Precise: queen to a7 is the top choice (+3.1).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Bxc2, then Kxc2 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 25. Bxb8 — bishop to b8 (capture)
- Bxc2 — bishop to c2 (capture)
- 26. Kxc2 — king to c2 (capture)
- Nde6 — knight to e6
- 27. Qxa7 — queen to a7 (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 #492.
SP-492 · 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 c1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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 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 572.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #492Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-492
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