Winning blow: queen to f7 (h5·3)
c9-21284naming 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 1200 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 e2, queen h5, rook c1, knight d4, pawn d2 h2 c3 e3 b4 f4.
Black: king a7, queen d8, rook a6 f7, knight c7, pawn b5 d5 f5 d6 e6 h7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (23 against 28; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on a7.
It is White to move on move 31, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Qxf7 Kb6 32. Nxe6 Nxe6 33. Qxe6 Qc7 34. Qxd5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f7 keeps the pressure (+4.1).
- Spot on — knight to e6 (+4.5).
- Strong! queen to e6 is the sharp choice (+4.6).
- Best move. queen to d5 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.7).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kb6, then Nxe6 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 31. Qxf7 — queen to f7 (capture)
- Kb6 — king to b6
- 32. Nxe6 — knight to e6 (capture)
- Nxe6 — knight to e6 (capture)
- 33. Qxe6 — queen to e6 (capture)
- Qc7 — queen to c7
- 34. Qxd5 — queen to d5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Absolute pin
A piece is pinned against its king — it cannot legally move.
An absolute pin freezes a piece on the line between its own king and your long-range attacker: moving it is simply illegal. The pattern is three units on one straight line — your bishop, rook or queen, an enemy piece, and the enemy king behind it. A pinned piece neither attacks nor defends anything: treat it as if it were off the board. Pile up on it, ideally with a pawn, because running away is against the rules.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #931.
SP-931 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 19.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #931Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-931
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