Winning blow: pawn to g7 (h6·2)
c9-21319naming 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 1060 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 g1, rook c1 h3, bishop d1 e1, knight f5, pawn g2 a3 d3 f4 e6 h6.
Black: king f8, queen e7, rook g7 c8, bishop e8, knight b6 f6, pawn c5 a7 b7 f7 h7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (25 against 33; 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 f8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: b, c.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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. hxg7+ Kg8 24. Rg3 h6 25. Nxe7+
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to g7 keeps the pressure (+8.7).
- rook to g3 develops smoothly.
- Strong! knight to e7 is the sharp choice (+10.2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg8, then Rg3 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 23. hxg7+ — pawn to g7 (capture) with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 24. Rg3 — rook to g3
- h6 — pawn to h6
- 25. Nxe7+ — knight to e7 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #57.
SP-57 · RampartScout — Wing king plus a rim knight, and only 72 positions qualify — the rarest pattern of all.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, b2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 905.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #57Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 006 · SP-57
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