Winning blow: pawn to b7 (c6·8)
c9-20612naming 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.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
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.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 d1, rook a1 e1, bishop c1 h1, knight f1 f7, pawn a2 b2 f2 h2 c3 g3 d4 c6.
Black: king c8, queen b8, rook a8 e8, bishop b1 h8, knight f6 c7, pawn g6 a7 b7 e7 h7.
15 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 10.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (30 against 36; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 10, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: e.
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
10. cxb7+ Kd7 11. Ne5+ Kd6 12. Rxb1 Nfd5 13. bxa8=Q
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to b7 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- Spot on — knight to e5 (+4.2).
- Precise: rook to b1 is the top choice (+4.1).
- Best move. pawn to a8 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.7).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kd7, then Ne5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 10. cxb7+ — pawn to b7 (capture) with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 11. Ne5+ — knight to e5 with check
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 12. Rxb1 — rook to b1 (capture)
- Nfd5 — knight to d5
- 13. bxa8=Q — pawn to a8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #887.
SP-887 · 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 e1, the queen on b1.
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: f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 66.
The engine's main line opens with Nf3, bringing the knight out to f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #887Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-887
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