Winning blow: knight to d5 (e7·5)
c9-22447naming 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 1560 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 b2, rook f7, knight e7, pawn b4 e4.
Black: king d7, rook b8, bishop d5, knight g4, pawn b5 d6 a7.
5 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (10 against 14; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b2, the black king on d7.
It is White to move on move 33, with 23 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d.
The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33. Nxd5+ Ke8 34. Rg7 Rc8 35. Rxg4
Why it works
- Great move! knight to d5 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- Well found: rook to g7 (+3.8).
- Precise: rook to g4 is the top choice (+3.9).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Ke8, then Rg7 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 33. Nxd5+ — knight to d5 (capture) with check
- Ke8 — king to e8
- 34. Rg7 — rook to g7
- Rc8 — rook to c8
- 35. Rxg4 — rook to g4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
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 #547.
SP-547 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 499.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #547Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-547
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