Winning blow: knight to c5 (d3·19)
c9-20354naming 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 1870 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 c3, queen a7, rook a1, bishop h5, knight d3, pawn a2 b2 e2 e3 h3.
Black: king e6, rook f8, knight f7, pawn e5 a6 h7.
10 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 14 points of material (25 against 11; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c3, the black king on e6.
It is White to move on move 27, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
27. Nc5+ Kf6 28. Rf1+ Kg7 29. Rxf7+
Why it works
- Best move. knight to c5 is exactly what the engine plays (#5).
- Spot on — rook to f1 (#4).
- Precise: rook to f7 is the top choice (#4).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Kf6, then Rf1+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 27. Nc5+ — knight to c5 with check
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 #551.
SP-551 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 498.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #551Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-551
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