Winning blow: rook to f8 (f7·4)
c9-23063naming 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 1290 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 d1, queen h1, rook f1 f7, bishop b1 c1, knight c2, pawn d2 h2 e5.
Black: king e8, queen c7, rook b3 c6, knight h3 a8, pawn g4 b5 c5 a7 e7 h7.
10 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 31 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on d1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b, c, g.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
21. Rf8+ Kd7 22. Qd5+ Qd6 23. exd6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to f8 keeps the pressure (#11).
- Well found: queen to d5 (#9).
- Strong! pawn to d6 is the sharp choice (#8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kd7, then Qd5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Rf8+ — rook to f8 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 22. Qd5+ — queen to d5 with check
- Qd6 — queen to d6
- 23. exd6 — pawn to d6 (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.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #84.
SP-84 · BastionScout — King off-centre on c or f with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 and g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 878.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #84Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-84
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