Winning blow: queen to g8 (g7·5)
c9-22609naming 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 1700 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, queen g7, rook c1, bishop a1 b5, knight e3, pawn c2 d2 a3.
Black: king e8, queen h2, rook f2 d7, bishop a8, pawn f3 e4 d6 a7 f7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (26 against 27; 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 45 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): b, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, f.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
29. Qg8+ Ke7 30. Nf5+ Ke6 31. Ng7+ Kd5 32. Qxa8+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g8 keeps the pressure (#5).
- Well found: knight to f5 (#4).
- Precise: knight to g7 is the top choice (#3).
- Best move. queen to a8 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Ke7, then Nf5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 29. Qg8+ — queen to g8 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 30. Nf5+ — knight to f5 with check
- Ke6 — king to e6
- 31. Ng7+ — knight to g7 with check
- Kd5 — king to d5
- 32. Qxa8+ — queen to a8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
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 #82.
SP-82 · 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 d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 871.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #82Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-82
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