Winning blow: rook to e2 (e1·12)
c9-23109naming 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 1390 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 g3, rook e1 h6, bishop f3, pawn g4 f6.
Black: king g8, rook b1 f8, bishop a2, pawn b4 g6 a7 f7.
6 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 40.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (15 against 17; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g3, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 40, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b.
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
40. Re2 Rg1+ 41. Kf4 g5+ 42. Kxg5 Rc8 43. Rxa2
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e2 keeps the pressure (+5.2).
- Well found: king to f4 (+5.1).
- Strong! king to g5 is the sharp choice (+5.5).
- Best move. rook to a2 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.6).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Rg1+, then Kf4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 40. Re2 — rook to e2
- Rg1+ — rook to g1 with check
- 41. Kf4 — king to f4
- g5+ — pawn to g5 with check
- 42. Kxg5 — king to g5 (capture)
- Rc8 — rook to c8
- 43. Rxa2 — rook to a2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
King march
In the endgame the king is a fighting piece — march it in.
The king march: in the endgame the king is a fighting piece, and often it is his journey forward that wins. It is time to march when the queens are off and checks hold no danger — the king attacks pawns, escorts the passer, takes squares away. The telltale sign of the theme is several king moves in a row. Plan the full route in advance using the rule of the square, and do not let the enemy king grab the opposition.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #453.
SP-453 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 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 BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 698.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #453Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-453
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