Winning blow: queen to a1 (e1·2)
c9-22988naming 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 g1, queen e1, rook h1, bishop c2 f2, knight e3 b4, pawn g2 b3 c3 f3 d4 e4 h6.
Black: king g8, queen e8, rook a1 f8, bishop c4 b8, knight b6 d8, pawn b5 f5 c6 e6 g6 d7 h7.
14 white and 15 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 16.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (33 against 38; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 16, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
16. Qxa1 fxe4 17. bxc4 exf3 18. cxb5 fxg2 19. Kxg2
Why it works
- Great move! queen to a1 keeps the pressure (+2.2).
- Spot on — pawn to c4 (+2.2).
- Precise: pawn to b5 is the top choice (+2.3).
- Best move. king to g2 is exactly what the engine plays (+2.3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead fxe4, then bxc4 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 16. Qxa1 — queen to a1 (capture)
- fxe4 — pawn to e4 (capture)
- 17. bxc4 — pawn to c4 (capture)
- exf3 — pawn to f3 (capture)
- 18. cxb5 — pawn to b5 (capture)
- fxg2 — pawn to g2 (capture)
- 19. Kxg2 — king to g2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #444.
SP-444 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on e1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 716.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #444Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-444
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