Winning blow: bishop to b6 (d4·6)
c9-20000naming 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 1930 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 d3, rook a1, bishop e2 d4, knight f5, pawn c2 g2 h2 b3 e4 c6.
Black: king c7, queen f4, rook a8 d8, bishop f8 g8, pawn a4 h5 f6 g7.
12 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 29 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 c7.
It is White to move on move 26, with 53 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, f.
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
26. Bb6+ Kxc6 27. Qb5+ Kb7 28. Be3+ Kc7 29. Bxf4+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to b6 keeps the pressure (#6).
- Well found: queen to b5 (#5).
- Precise: bishop to e3 is the top choice (#9).
- Best move. bishop to f4 is exactly what the engine plays (#7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxc6, then Qb5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 26. Bb6+ — bishop to b6 with check
- Kxc6 — king to c6 (capture)
- 27. Qb5+ — queen to b5 with check
- Kb7 — king to b7
- 28. Be3+ — bishop to e3 with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 29. Bxf4+ — bishop to f4 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #797.
SP-797 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 168.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #797Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-797
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