Winning blow: queen to b5 (f5·4)
c9-20178naming 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 1510 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 g1, queen f5, rook c4, bishop a1 f1, knight d1, pawn d2 f2 g2 a3 b4.
Black: king g8, queen b8, rook h6, bishop h4 b5, knight e6, pawn f4 h5 a7 f7 g7.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 28 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 17, with 47 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, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: h.
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
17. Qxb5 Qd8 18. Be5 Bf6 19. Bxf6
Why it works
- Great move! queen to b5 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- bishop to e5 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to f6 is the top choice (+4.4).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Qd8, then Be5 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 17. Qxb5 — queen to b5 (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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #2.
SP-2 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 951.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #2Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-2
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