Winning blow: pawn to f4 (g3·13)
c9-23391naming 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 g1, queen d5, rook e1, knight c1, pawn b3 g3 d4 g6.
Black: king h6, queen a1, rook f4, bishop g7 c8, knight b8, pawn c3 d6 a7.
8 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (21 against 26; 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 h6.
It is White to move on move 29, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, c.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
29. gxf4 Bf6 30. Qf7 Bg7 31. Kg2 Bh3+ 32. Kxh3
Why it works
- Best move. pawn to f4 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.0).
- Spot on — queen to f7 (+5.5).
- Precise: king to g2 is the top choice (+5.9).
- Great move! king to h3 keeps the pressure (+7.1).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Bf6, then Qf7 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 29. gxf4 — pawn to f4 (capture)
- Bf6 — bishop to f6
- 30. Qf7 — queen to f7
- Bg7 — bishop to g7
- 31. Kg2 — king to g2
- Bh3+ — bishop to h3 with check
- 32. Kxh3 — king to h3 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #35.
SP-35 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 and g1, the queen on d1.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 915.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 97 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +6 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #35Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-35
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