Winning blow: queen to g8 (g3·2)
c9-22088naming 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 g3, rook e1, bishop f1 b4, pawn f2 g2 b3 e5.
Black: king e8, queen c8, rook h6 g8, bishop a8, knight c5, pawn e4 b5 a6 c7 h7.
9 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
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 g1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 22, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, c, h.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
22. Qxg8+ Kd7 23. Rd1+ Nd3 24. Qg7+ Kc6 25. Qxh6+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g8 keeps the pressure (+5.9).
- Spot on — rook to d1 (+6.0).
- Precise: queen to g7 is the top choice (+6.6).
- Best move. queen to h6 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.7).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kd7, then Rd1+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 22. Qxg8+ — queen to g8 (capture) with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 23. Rd1+ — rook to d1 with check
- Nd3 — knight to d3
- 24. Qg7+ — queen to g7 with check
- Kc6 — king to c6
- 25. Qxh6+ — queen to h6 (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.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #18.
SP-18 · RampartGuard — King on the wing (b/g) with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on c1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 935.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 3 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +52 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #18Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-18
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