Winning blow: pawn to f7 (g6·2)
c9-23219naming 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 e2, queen b4, rook g3, bishop d1, knight d2, pawn b3 c3 g5 g6.
Black: king d8, queen c1, rook c8, bishop c6, knight b8 e8, pawn d6 e6 a7 f7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (24 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 e2, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d, e, f.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
25. gxf7 Ke7 26. fxe8=R+ Bxe8 27. Qb7+ Nd7 28. Qxc8
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to f7 keeps the pressure (+3.2).
- Spot on — pawn to e8 (+2.5).
- Precise: queen to b7 is the top choice (+3.5).
- Great move! queen to c8 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ke7, then fxe8=R+ and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 25. gxf7 — pawn to f7 (capture)
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 26. fxe8=R+ — pawn to e8 (capture) with check
- Bxe8 — bishop to e8 (capture)
- 27. Qb7+ — queen to b7 with check
- Nd7 — knight to d7
- 28. Qxc8 — queen to c8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
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.
Underpromotion
Promoting to a knight or rook — not a queen — is the only way to win.
Underpromotion means choosing a knight, rook or bishop instead of a queen — and winning precisely because of it. The usual hero is the knight, which delivers a check or a fork from the promotion square in a way no queen can. A rook is chosen when a fresh queen would produce stalemate. When your pawn reaches the last rank, never promote on autopilot — first ask what the knight can do.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #177.
SP-177 · 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 c1 and g1, the queen on h1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 779.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 8 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +45 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #177Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-177
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