Mate in 2: rook to h8 (c8)
c9-20884naming 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.
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1090 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.
Mate in two usually opens with a forcing move — a check, a capture or an unstoppable threat — that strips the king of squares or defenders, so the follow-up mate becomes unavoidable. Look for the first move that leaves the opponent only losing replies.
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 g1, queen c7, rook c8, bishop b1, knight f4, pawn a2 e2 b3 f3 g3 h4.
Black: king f6, rook h8, knight e3, pawn f5 h5 c6 e6 g6.
11 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 13 points of material (26 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on f6.
It is White to move on move 35, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
35. Rxh8 e5 36. Rf8#
Why it works
- Best move. rook to h8 is exactly what the engine plays (#1).
- Spot on — rook to f8 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead e5, then Rf8# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 35. Rxh8 — rook to h8 (capture)
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 36. Rf8# — rook to f8 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 2
A forced checkmate in two moves.
Mate in two: your move, any reply, then the mating blow. Start with the most forcing first moves — checks and sacrifices that shrink the opponent's options to almost nothing. Against every single reply you must have a mate ready, so check them all without exception. The common failure is analyzing the pretty defense and forgetting the boring one.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #260.
SP-260 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on g1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 606.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #260Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 007 · SP-260
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads