Winning blow: queen to a5 (c3·3)
c9-22041naming 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 g1, queen c3, bishop g2 f6, pawn b2 c2 e2 h4.
Black: king e8, queen d7, rook a5, bishop f8, knight f1, pawn b7 c7 h7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (19 against 23; 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, d, f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Qxa5 Ne3 25. Bf3 Qd6 26. Qh5+ Kd7 27. Qxh7+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to a5 keeps the pressure (+2.7).
- bishop to f3 develops smoothly.
- Strong! queen to h5 is the sharp choice (+3.9).
- Great move! queen to h7 keeps the pressure (+4.1).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ne3, then Bf3 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 24. Qxa5 — queen to a5 (capture)
- Ne3 — knight to e3
- 25. Bf3 — bishop to f3
- Qd6 — queen to d6
- 26. Qh5+ — queen to h5 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 27. Qxh7+ — queen to h7 (capture) with check
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #382.
SP-382 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 292.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #382Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-382
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