Winning blow: bishop to g7 (a1·5)
c9-22633naming 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 h1, rook g1 g3, bishop a1, pawn a2 d3 f4.
Black: king h7, queen g7, rook d6, knight b7, pawn h5 b6 g6 a7.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (16 against 21; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h1, the black king on h7.
It is White to move on move 31, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, g, h.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Bxg7 Kxg7 32. f5 Nc5 33. Rxg6+ Rxg6 34. Rxg6+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to g7 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- pawn to f5 develops smoothly.
- Precise: rook to g6 is the top choice (+4.4).
- Great move! rook to g6 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxg7, then f5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 31. Bxg7 — bishop to g7 (capture)
- Kxg7 — king to g7 (capture)
- 32. f5 — pawn to f5
- Nc5 — knight to c5
- 33. Rxg6+ — rook to g6 (capture) with check
- Rxg6 — rook to g6 (capture)
- 34. Rxg6+ — rook to g6 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #98.
SP-98 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on b1.
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.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 855.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #98Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-98
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