Winning blow: rook to e4 (e1·8)
c9-21786naming 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 h1, queen h6, rook a1 e1, pawn a2 b2 f2 h2 f3.
Black: king g8, queen b7, rook a8 f8, bishop d8, knight e4, pawn d4 a5 b5 d6 f7.
9 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (24 against 30; 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 g8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Rxe4 Qxe4 22. fxe4 f5 23. Rg1+ Bg5 24. Rxg5+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e4 keeps the pressure (#6).
- Well found: pawn to e4 (#5).
- Precise: rook to g1 is the top choice (#4).
- Best move. rook to g5 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxe4, then fxe4 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 21. Rxe4 — rook to e4 (capture)
- Qxe4 — queen to e4 (capture)
- 22. fxe4 — pawn to e4 (capture)
- f5 — pawn to f5
- 23. Rg1+ — rook to g1 with check
- Bg5 — bishop to g5
- 24. Rxg5+ — rook to g5 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
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 #501.
SP-501 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on b1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 554.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #501Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-501
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