Winning blow: rook to g5 (f5)
c9-22808naming 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, queen h3, rook f5, pawn a2 b2 g2 e4.
Black: king g6, queen g5, rook b8, knight f8, pawn b6 d6 b7 g7.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (18 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 g6.
It is White to move on move 28, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
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
28. Rxg5+ Kxg5 29. Qg3+ Kh5 30. Qh2+ Kg5 31. Qxd6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g5 keeps the pressure (+5.2).
- Spot on — queen to g3 (+4.9).
- Precise: queen to h2 is the top choice (+4.8).
- Best move. queen to d6 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxg5, then Qg3+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 28. Rxg5+ — rook to g5 (capture) with check
- Kxg5 — king to g5 (capture)
- 29. Qg3+ — queen to g3 with check
- Kh5 — king to h5
- 30. Qh2+ — queen to h2 with check
- Kg5 — king to g5
- 31. Qxd6 — queen to d6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Relative pin
A piece shields a more valuable one behind it — moving it loses material.
In a relative pin the piece shields not its king but something valuable behind it, usually the queen. Moving is legal but costly, because the piece behind falls. Look for three units on one line: your long-range piece, a cheaper enemy piece, and an expensive one hiding behind. Beware the classic trap — a relatively pinned piece can still move with check or a bigger threat, so verify before you cash in.
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #149.
SP-149 · RampartScout — King on b or g with a knight already on the edge — the least common of the position families (72 in all).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 810.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #149Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-149
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