Winning blow: knight to c4 (d2·5)
c9-23470naming 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 b1, queen d1, rook h1, bishop e1 g2, knight c1 d2, pawn b2 c2 e3 h3 d4 f4 g4 a5.
Black: king c8, queen a3, rook d8 f8, bishop c4 h8, knight e4 c6, pawn d5 f5 a6 g6 b7 c7 e7 h7.
15 white and 16 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (34 against 39; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 15, with 27 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 8. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
15. Nxc4 Qa4 16. b3 Qb5 17. Na3 Nxd4 18. Nxb5
Why it works
- Brilliant! The knight on c4 is a sacrifice that works — you are winning (+3.1).
- Well found: pawn to b3 (+3.0).
- Strong! knight to a3 is the sharp choice (+3.1).
- Great move! knight to b5 keeps the pressure (+2.9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qa4, then b3 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 15. Nxc4 — knight to c4 (capture)
- Qa4 — queen to a4
- 16. b3 — pawn to b3
- Qb5 — queen to b5
- 17. Na3 — knight to a3
- Nxd4 — knight to d4 (capture)
- 18. Nxb5 — knight to b5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Queen trap
The strongest piece ventures too far — and cannot come back.
A queen trap catches the strongest piece after it ventures too far and finds no way home. The usual story is a queen grabbing a distant pawn — the classic poisoned pawn. The warning signs: the queen has few retreat squares, and enemy minor pieces cut them off one by one, gaining tempo with every move. Before your queen snacks on a pawn in enemy territory, count her escape routes — fewer than two means stay home.
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #827.
SP-827 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on d1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 129.
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 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #827Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-827
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