Winning blow: bishop to f6 (c3·4)
c9-20888naming 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 1280 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 h1, queen g5, rook e1 f1, bishop c3 d5, knight h5 h6, pawn e2 f2 g2 a3 b4.
Black: king h8, queen c7, rook f8, bishop h2, knight c5, pawn c6 e6 f6 a7 b7.
13 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 11 points of material (36 against 25; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h1, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 48 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
25. Bxf6+ Kh7 26. bxc5 cxd5 27. g3
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f6 keeps the pressure (#7).
- Spot on — pawn to c5 (#4).
- A natural move: pawn to g3.
- You win decisive material (+15.0).
- If instead Kh7, then bxc5 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 25. Bxf6+ — bishop to f6 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #293.
SP-293 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 378.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 26 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +34 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #293Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-293
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