Winning blow: pawn to g6 (h5·5)
c9-20637naming 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 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.
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 e2, queen e6, rook c1, bishop a2 d2, pawn a4 e5 h5.
Black: king h8, queen c7, rook b8 c8, bishop d4, knight c2, pawn g3 g6 b7 g7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (23 against 29; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 33, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, g.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33. hxg6 Be3 34. Bxe3 Nd4+ 35. Bxd4 Qc2+ 36. Rxc2
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to g6 keeps the pressure (#8).
- Spot on — bishop to e3 (#12).
- Strong! bishop to d4 is the sharp choice (#11).
- Great move! rook to c2 keeps the pressure (#10).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Be3, then Bxe3 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 33. hxg6 — pawn to g6 (capture)
- Be3 — bishop to e3
- 34. Bxe3 — bishop to e3 (capture)
- Nd4+ — knight to d4 with check
- 35. Bxd4 — bishop to d4 (capture)
- Qc2+ — queen to c2 with check
- 36. Rxc2 — rook to c2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
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.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #357.
SP-357 · ThroneScout — Centre-file king, rim knight: 204 of the 960 positions share this pattern.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 314.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 18 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +38 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #357Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-357
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads