Winning blow: rook to h8 (f8·3)
c9-21058naming 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 1870 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 g1, queen f2, rook f8, bishop b1 e1, knight b3, pawn b2 h3 d4 g4 a5 c5 e5 g5.
Black: king g7, queen d8, rook h8, bishop b8 e8, knight b5, pawn h4 d5 a6 c6 e6 b7.
14 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (31 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 g1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 23, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
23. Rxh8 Qe7 24. Rh7+ Kg8 25. Rxe7
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h8 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Spot on — rook to h7 (#4).
- Precise: rook to e7 is the top choice (#3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bg6, then Rxd8 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 23. Rxh8 — rook to h8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #40.
SP-40 · RampartScout — A knight in the corner and the king out on the wing (b/g); like every family, it is closed under mirror twins.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 925.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 26 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +34 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #40Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-40
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