Winning blow: rook to g8 (c8)
c9-22180naming 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 1420 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 e2, queen a7, rook h1 c8, pawn f2 h2 e3 g3.
Black: king g7, queen e5, rook g8, bishop e7, pawn e4 b5 a6 e6 f7 h7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 34.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 23 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e2, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 34, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
34. Rxg8+ Kxg8 35. Qxe7
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g8 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- Well found: queen to e7 (+4.2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kxg8, then Qxe7 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 34. Rxg8+ — rook to g8 (capture) with check
- Kxg8 — king to g8 (capture)
- 35. Qxe7 — queen to e7 (capture)
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #514.
SP-514 · ThroneGuard — A centre-file king with no knight on the edge; a position and its mirror twin always share this family.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 535.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 96 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +8 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #514Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-514
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