Winning blow: rook to e1 (b1·4)
c9-21366naming 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 1430 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 h1, queen f7, rook b1 h2, knight d5, pawn a2 g2 h6.
Black: king h8, queen d3, rook g8, bishop f2, knight e1, pawn b4 a5 b5 e5 d6 g6 e7.
8 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (25 against 27; 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 h8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, d, e.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
25. Rxe1 Qf5 26. Qxg8+ Kxg8 27. Nxe7+ Kh7 28. Nxf5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e1 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Spot on — queen to g8 (+4.4).
- Strong! knight to e7 is the sharp choice (+4.7).
- Great move! knight to f5 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qf5, then Qxg8+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 25. Rxe1 — rook to e1 (capture)
- Qf5 — queen to f5
- 26. Qxg8+ — queen to g8 (capture) with check
- Kxg8 — king to g8 (capture)
- 27. Nxe7+ — knight to e7 (capture) with check
- Kh7 — king to h7
- 28. Nxf5 — knight to f5 (capture)
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.
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.
Mate defense
Mate is threatened — parry it and stay on top.
Mate defense: your opponent is one move from mating you — but it is your turn, and that changes everything. Find the defense that kills the mating threat while keeping your advantage: often a check or a counter-threat that leaves no time for the mate. First name the exact square where the mate would land — otherwise you are defending blind. The mistake is playing a "defensive" move that does not actually remove the threat.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #393.
SP-393 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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 pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 761.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #393Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-393
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads