Winning blow: rook to e8 (f8·3)
c9-23090naming 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 e2, rook g7 f8, knight h1, pawn a2 b2 d2 e3 h4 c5 e6.
Black: king d8, queen c8, rook h6, knight e8, pawn d4 d5 c6 a7 b7.
11 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (20 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 22, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
22. Rxe8+ Kxe8 23. Rg8+ Ke7 24. Rxc8
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e8 keeps the pressure (+4.9).
- Well found: rook to g8 (+4.8).
- Strong! rook to c8 is the sharp choice (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxe8, then Rg8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 22. Rxe8+ — rook to e8 (capture) with check
- Kxe8 — king to e8 (capture)
- 23. Rg8+ — rook to g8 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 24. Rxc8 — rook to c8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #314.
SP-314 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 357.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +46 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #314Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-314
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