Winning blow: rook to b1 (c1·13)
c9-22602naming 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 1890 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 e1, rook c1 g7, bishop a6, knight a4, pawn h2 d4.
Black: king d8, rook c2 h8, knight e3 h6, pawn f5 h5 e6.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (18 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 33, with 32 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): a, b, c, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, f.
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
33. Rb1 Ng2+ 34. Kf1 Ne3+ 35. Kg1 Rg2+ 36. Rxg2
Why it works
- Great move! rook to b1 keeps the pressure (+4.0).
- Well found: king to f1 (+3.9).
- A natural move: king to g1.
- Great move! rook to g2 keeps the pressure (+4.2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ng2+, then Kf1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 33. Rb1 — rook to b1
- Ng2+ — knight to g2 with check
- 34. Kf1 — king to f1
- Ne3+ — knight to e3 with check
- 35. Kg1 — king to g1
- Rg2+ — rook to g2 with check
- 36. Rxg2 — rook to g2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #706.
SP-706 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share this family.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, f2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 439.
The engine's main line opens with Ngf3, bringing the knight out to f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #706Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 014 · SP-706
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