Winning blow: rook to d7 (e7·3)
c9-22938naming 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 1430 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 g2, rook e7 f7, pawn a2 f2 b3 d3 g3 c4.
Black: king c7, rook f5 g8, knight b7, pawn c5 a6 b6 f6 d7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 37.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (16 against 18; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g2, the black king on c7.
It is White to move on move 37, with 24 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
37. Rxd7+ Kc6 38. Rc7+ Kd6 39. Rfd7+ Ke6 40. Rxb7
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d7 keeps the pressure (+5.3).
- Spot on — rook to c7 (+5.3).
- Precise: rook to d7 is the top choice (+4.9).
- Best move. rook to b7 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.0).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Kc6, then Rc7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 37. Rxd7+ — rook to d7 (capture) with check
- Kc6 — king to c6
- 38. Rc7+ — rook to c7 with check
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 39. Rfd7+ — rook to d7 with check
- Ke6 — king to e6
- 40. Rxb7 — rook to b7 (capture)
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.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #944.
SP-944 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and e1, the queen on h1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
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: f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 15.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #944Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-944
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