Winning blow: bishop to e8 (b5·2)
c9-19797naming 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 920 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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 f1, rook d1, bishop b5 e7, pawn a2 e2 g2 b3 f4.
Black: king f7, queen e8, rook h3, bishop f6, pawn a5 f5 e6 g6 g7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (16 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 36, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
36. Bxe8+ Kxe8 37. gxh3
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to e8 keeps the pressure (+4.6).
- Well found: pawn to h3 (+4.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxe8, then gxh3 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 36. Bxe8+ — bishop to e8 (capture) with check
- Kxe8 — king to e8 (capture)
- 37. gxh3 — pawn to h3 (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.
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 #605.
SP-605 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 264.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +47 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #605Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 005 · SP-605
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