Winning blow: queen to d6 (g6)
c9-23298naming 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 1250 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 g1, queen g6, rook h5, bishop d1, knight g3, pawn f2 g2 b3 c4.
Black: king g8, queen g7, rook d8, bishop a8, knight d3, pawn e4 c5 b6 a7 d7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (24 against 25; 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 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d, e.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
27. Qd6 e3 28. Qxd3 exf2+ 29. Kxf2
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d6 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Spot on — queen to d3 (+4.7).
- Precise: king to f2 is the top choice (+5.1).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead e3, then Qxd3 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 27. Qd6 — queen to d6
- e3 — pawn to e3
- 28. Qxd3 — queen to d3 (capture)
- exf2+ — pawn to f2 (capture) with check
- 29. Kxf2 — king to f2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
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?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #129.
SP-129 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
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 RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 827.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #129Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-129
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