Winning blow: queen to b7 (e4·6)
c9-20485naming 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 1890 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 d2, queen e4, rook h7, bishop c2, knight f5, pawn b3 c3 f4.
Black: king d8, queen f8, rook e8, bishop e6, knight c7, pawn d4 b6 d7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 23 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on d2, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 31, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, e, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
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
31. Qb7 dxc3+ 32. Kd1 Na6 33. Qxb6+ Kc8 34. Qxa6+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to b7 keeps the pressure (+6.4).
- Well found: king to d1 (+7.2).
- Strong! queen to b6 is the sharp choice (+7.5).
- Best move. queen to a6 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.8).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead dxc3+, then Kd1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31. Qb7 — queen to b7
- dxc3+ — pawn to c3 (capture) with check
- 32. Kd1 — king to d1
- Na6 — knight to a6
- 33. Qxb6+ — queen to b6 (capture) with check
- Kc8 — king to c8
- 34. Qxa6+ — queen to a6 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
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 #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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