Winning blow: rook to h7 (h1·6)
c9-23534naming 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 e1, queen g3, rook b1 h1, bishop c2, pawn a2 e2 g2 b4 f4.
Black: king f8, queen c8, rook b8, bishop a8 d8, knight f7, pawn c4 d5 f5 f6 a7 d7 h7.
10 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (27 against 30; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 17, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: c, d, h.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
17. Rxh7 Ke7 18. Qg7 Kd6 19. Qxf7 Kc7 20. Bxf5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h7 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- queen to g7 develops smoothly.
- Precise: queen to f7 is the top choice (+4.1).
- Best move. bishop to f5 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.4).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Ke7, then Qg7 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 17. Rxh7 — rook to h7 (capture)
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 18. Qg7 — queen to g7
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 19. Qxf7 — queen to f7 (capture)
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 20. Bxf5 — bishop to f5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Absolute pin
A piece is pinned against its king — it cannot legally move.
An absolute pin freezes a piece on the line between its own king and your long-range attacker: moving it is simply illegal. The pattern is three units on one straight line — your bishop, rook or queen, an enemy piece, and the enemy king behind it. A pinned piece neither attacks nor defends anything: treat it as if it were off the board. Pile up on it, ideally with a pawn, because running away is against the rules.
Trapped piece
The attacked piece has no safe square — it is caught.
Trapping a piece means the attacked piece has no safe square left — it simply perishes. Do not chase it around; build a cage instead: cut off the escape squares with pawns and pieces first, and attack last. The typical victim has wandered deep into your camp or is stuck at the edge of the board, where its mobility is tiny. And always check the way home for your own raiders — or the trapped piece will be yours.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #785.
SP-785 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on c1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
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 ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 171.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #785Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-785
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