Winning blow: queen to f6 (f7·2)
c9-23710naming 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 f7, rook f4, bishop d2, knight c1, pawn a2 g2 d4 c5.
Black: king h8, queen b1, rook b8, bishop e2 g3, pawn b4 a5 e6 h7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 24 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 h8.
It is White to move on move 32, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, e, h.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32. Qf6+ Kg8 33. Qxe6+ Kg7 34. Qe5+ Kg8 35. Qxb8+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f6 keeps the pressure (#7).
- Spot on — queen to e6 (#6).
- Precise: queen to e5 is the top choice (#5).
- Best move. queen to b8 is exactly what the engine plays (#4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kg8, then Qxe6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 32. Qf6+ — queen to f6 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 33. Qxe6+ — queen to e6 (capture) with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 34. Qe5+ — queen to e5 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 35. Qxb8+ — queen to b8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #233.
SP-233 · BastionScout — King shifted to c or f, with a knight committed to the corner from move one.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on b1 and h1, 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.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 633.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 96 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +8 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #233Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-233
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