Winning blow: bishop to a7 (f2·2)
c9-23662naming 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 h1, rook c1, bishop f2 d3, knight g1, pawn e2 f3 g3 b5.
Black: king f7, queen a7, rook c8, bishop c4, knight g6 g8, pawn f5 e6 h7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (18 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 h1, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 31, with 27 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): a, c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: h.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Bxa7 Ne5 32. Bd4 Nxd3 33. exd3 e5 34. Bxe5
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to a7 keeps the pressure (+3.0).
- bishop to d4 develops smoothly.
- Strong! pawn to d3 is the sharp choice (+3.0).
- Best move. bishop to e5 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Ne5, then Bd4 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 31. Bxa7 — bishop to a7 (capture)
- Ne5 — knight to e5
- 32. Bd4 — bishop to d4
- Nxd3 — knight to d3 (capture)
- 33. exd3 — pawn to d3 (capture)
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 34. Bxe5 — bishop to e5 (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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #868.
SP-868 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on a1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: g2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 94.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 0 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +75 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 59.0% (95% CI 45.2–71.5%).
Explore position #868Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-868
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