Winning blow: knight to c5 (e4·13)
c9-20473naming 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 2060 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 c1, queen b5, rook e1 b2, knight d4 e4, pawn c2 d2 f2 g2 h2.
Black: king d8, queen f5, knight g6 h6, pawn a5 c7 g7 h7.
11 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 11 points of material (30 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 52 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a.
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
21. Nc5 Qxc2+ 22. Nxc2 Ne5 23. Rxe5
Why it works
- Sensible development: knight to c5.
- Spot on — knight to c2 (#2).
- Precise: rook to e5 is the top choice (#1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Ne5, then Nxf5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 21. Nc5 — knight to c5
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #914.
SP-914 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 39.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 13 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +41 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #914Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 015 · SP-914
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