Winning blow: queen to b5 (a5·3)
c9-20040naming 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 g2, queen a5, knight g4, pawn b2 a3 h3.
Black: king e8, rook e4 g5, bishop b5, pawn d5 e6 a7 g7.
6 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (15 against 17; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g2, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 38, with 21 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, e, g.
The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
38. Qxb5+ Kf7 39. Qa6 Kg6 40. b4 Rf5 41. Qxa7
Why it works
- Great move! queen to b5 keeps the pressure (+3.0).
- queen to a6 develops smoothly.
- A natural move: pawn to b4.
- Best move. queen to a7 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.5).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Kf7, then Qa6 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 38. Qxb5+ — queen to b5 (capture) with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 39. Qa6 — queen to a6
- Kg6 — king to g6
- 40. b4 — pawn to b4
- Rf5 — rook to f5
- 41. Qxa7 — queen to a7 (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.
Queen endgame
Queens on an open board — precision above all.
Queen endgames are treacherous: the queen reaches everywhere, and one slip turns a win into perpetual check. The signs are few pawns, exposed kings, and checks hanging in the air. Tuck your king away early, and use your own checks to bring the queen closer or push your passer with tempo. The typical mistake is grabbing pawns while leaving your king exposed to endless checks.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #294.
SP-294 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 374.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #294Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-294
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