Winning blow: queen to d8 (e7·3)
c9-23235naming 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.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
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.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 g1, queen e7, rook f3, bishop f1 g5, pawn a2 f2 g2 c3 b4 h5.
Black: king g8, queen c4, rook d1 d8, bishop b8, knight a8, pawn b5 a7 h7.
11 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (26 against 28; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
27. Qxd8+ Rxd8 28. Bxc4+ bxc4 29. Bxd8
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d8 keeps the pressure (+6.8).
- Well found: bishop to c4 (+7.0).
- Strong! bishop to d8 is the sharp choice (+7.0).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rxd8, then Bxc4+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 27. Qxd8+ — queen to d8 (capture) with check
- Rxd8 — rook to d8 (capture)
- 28. Bxc4+ — bishop to c4 (capture) with check
- bxc4 — pawn to c4 (capture)
- 29. Bxd8 — bishop to d8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
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.
Zwischenzug
Before the obvious recapture — an in-between move that wins more.
A zwischenzug means refusing the obvious reply — usually a recapture — and playing a stronger move with tempo first. Typically it is a check or a deadly threat the opponent must answer, after which you calmly take what was hanging anyway. The sign: inside a sequence of exchanges you own a check or a threat that will not run away. Whenever a line looks forced, ask what poison you can slip in between the moves.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #116.
SP-116 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest family.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2, g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 846.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #116Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-116
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