Winning blow: queen to h7 (h1)
c9-23164naming 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 c1, queen h1, rook d1, bishop c4, knight d6, pawn a2 b2 g3 d4 c5.
Black: king e7, queen f2, rook c8 e8, knight a4, pawn c6 e6 g6 a7 h7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (25 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on e7.
It is White to move on move 20, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, 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
20. Qxh7+ Kf6 21. Qf7+ Kg5 22. Ne4+ Kg4 23. Nxf2+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h7 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Spot on — queen to f7 (#5).
- Precise: knight to e4 is the top choice (#4).
- Best move. knight to f2 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kf6, then Qf7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 20. Qxh7+ — queen to h7 (capture) with check
- Kf6 — king to f6
- 21. Qf7+ — queen to f7 with check
- Kg5 — king to g5
- 22. Ne4+ — knight to e4 with check
- Kg4 — king to g4
- 23. Nxf2+ — knight to f2 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
Mate defense
Mate is threatened — parry it and stay on top.
Mate defense: your opponent is one move from mating you — but it is your turn, and that changes everything. Find the defense that kills the mating threat while keeping your advantage: often a check or a counter-threat that leaves no time for the mate. First name the exact square where the mate would land — otherwise you are defending blind. The mistake is playing a "defensive" move that does not actually remove the threat.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #190.
SP-190 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 772.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 26 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +34 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #190Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-190
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