Winning blow: rook to e1 (g1·3)
c9-23007naming 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 b1, queen g4, rook g1, knight d4 g6, pawn c2 d2 b3 a6.
Black: king c7, queen h8, rook e1 d8, bishop d6, knight a4, pawn g3 h4 d5 b6 c6.
9 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (24 against 30; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on c7.
It is White to move on move 30, with 3 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g, h.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
30. Rxe1 Qf6 31. Ne6+ Kb8 32. a7+ Ka8 33. Qxa4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e1 keeps the pressure (+2.7).
- Spot on — knight to e6 (+2.9).
- Precise: pawn to a7 is the top choice (+3.0).
- Great move! queen to a4 keeps the pressure (+3.5).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qf6, then Ne6+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 30. Rxe1 — rook to e1 (capture)
- Qf6 — queen to f6
- 31. Ne6+ — knight to e6 with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 32. a7+ — pawn to a7 with check
- Ka8 — king to a8
- 33. Qxa4 — queen to a4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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 #186.
SP-186 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 773.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #186Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-186
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