Winning blow: rook to c7 (c1·22)
c9-21023naming 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 1750 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 h1, rook c1, bishop b3, knight d4 g4, pawn a2 g2 h3 b4 e6.
Black: king g7, rook f5 f8, bishop e7 e8, pawn h4 b5 g6 a7.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (19 against 20; 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 g7.
It is White to move on move 36, with 35 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
36. Rc7 Rf1+ 37. Kh2 Rh1+ 38. Kxh1
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c7 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- king to h2 develops smoothly.
- Precise: king to h1 is the top choice (+4.9).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rf1+, then Kh2 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 36. Rc7 — rook to c7
- Rf1+ — rook to f1 with check
- 37. Kh2 — king to h2
- Rh1+ — rook to h1 with check
- 38. Kxh1 — king to h1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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 #1.
SP-1 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: d2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 955.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #1Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-1
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