Winning blow: rook to d7 (d1·14)
c9-22067naming 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 a1, queen h4, rook d1, bishop a3, knight e2, pawn a2 b3 f4.
Black: king f7, queen e3, rook a8 e8, bishop d7 b8, pawn g4 f5 e6 a7 g7.
8 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 34.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (23 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 a1, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 34, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, g.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
34. Rxd7+ Kg8 35. Bb2 Be5 36. Bxe5 Qxe5+ 37. fxe5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d7 keeps the pressure (+8.5).
- Well found: bishop to b2 (#14).
- Strong! bishop to e5 is the sharp choice (#10).
- Great move! pawn to e5 keeps the pressure (#9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg8, then Bb2 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 34. Rxd7+ — rook to d7 (capture) with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 35. Bb2 — bishop to b2
- Be5 — bishop to e5
- 36. Bxe5 — bishop to e5 (capture)
- Qxe5+ — queen to e5 (capture) with check
- 37. fxe5 — pawn to e5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #616.
SP-616 · 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 f1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on d1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: b2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 253.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #616Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-616
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