Winning blow: bishop to h4 (e1)
c9-22706naming 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 c1, queen h7, rook d1 b2, bishop e1, pawn h2 c3 d4.
Black: king f6, queen a6, rook d8, bishop f8, knight a8, pawn f5 c6 g6 a7 c7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 25 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on c1, the black king on f6.
It is White to move on move 24, with 38 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, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, f, g.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Bh4+ g5 25. Bxg5+ Ke6 26. Re1+ Qe2 27. Rbxe2+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to h4 keeps the pressure (#5).
- Well found: bishop to g5 (#4).
- Precise: rook to e1 is the top choice (#3).
- Best move. rook to e2 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead g5, then Bxg5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24. Bh4+ — bishop to h4 with check
- g5 — pawn to g5
- 25. Bxg5+ — bishop to g5 (capture) with check
- Ke6 — king to e6
- 26. Re1+ — rook to e1 with check
- Qe2 — queen to e2
- 27. Rbxe2+ — rook to e2 (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.
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.
Battery
Two pieces stacked on one line — the front one strikes with double force.
A battery stacks two long-range pieces on one line — a queen behind a bishop on a diagonal, or doubled rooks on a file. The front piece strikes with double force: capture it, and the piece behind recaptures with even more pressure. The battery is ready when both pieces already stare at one point and only the front strike is missing. Build batteries in advance on lines leading to the king — the doubling itself often breeds the combination.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #362.
SP-362 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 309.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #362Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-362
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