Winning blow: queen to c3 (e3)
c9-21115naming tag (square·N)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 1010 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king d2, queen e3, bishop d1 g1, pawn h2 g3 a4 d5.
Black: king b8, queen a3, rook c3, knight b6, pawn a5 g5 b7 h7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Qxc3 Qa2+ 32. Kc1 Nc4 33. Bc2
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c3 keeps the pressure (+5.7).
- king to c1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to c2 is the top choice (+6.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qxc3+, then Kxc3 and you win the queen.
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 #719.
SP-719 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on c1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 432.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #719Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-719
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