Winning blow: pawn to c3 (b2·15)
c9-23607naming 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 f2, rook d2, bishop c1 c2, knight e3, pawn b2 g2 a3 d4 f4 h4.
Black: king g8, queen f6, rook b6 f8, bishop b7, pawn c3 a4 e4 d5 h5 f7 g7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 29 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 33, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: c, e.
White 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
33. bxc3 Rc8 34. c4 dxc4 35. Rd1 Rb3 36. Bxb3
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to c3 keeps the pressure (+2.6).
- Spot on — pawn to c4 (+2.3).
- A natural move: rook to d1.
- Brilliant! The bishop on b3 is a sacrifice that works — you stand better (+2.2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rc8, then c4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 33. bxc3 — pawn to c3 (capture)
- Rc8 — rook to c8
- 34. c4 — pawn to c4
- dxc4 — pawn to c4 (capture)
- 35. Rd1 — rook to d1
- Rb3 — rook to b3
- 36. Bxb3 — bishop to b3 (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 #516.
SP-516 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on e1.
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.
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 g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 542.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #516Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-516
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