Winning blow: rook to a8 (b8)
c9-23825naming 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 1290 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 c1, queen f8, rook b8, knight c3, pawn b2 c2 h2 g3.
Black: king a7, queen d4, rook a6, bishop f5, pawn a3 c6 c7 h7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 21 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on c1, the black king on a7.
It is White to move on move 28, with 39 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): d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a.
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
28. Ra8+ Kb6 29. Qb8+ Kc5 30. Rxa6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to a8 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- Spot on — queen to b8 (+4.4).
- Precise: rook to a6 is the top choice (+4.3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kb6, then Qb8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Ra8+ — rook to a8 with check
- Kb6 — king to b6
- 29. Qb8+ — queen to b8 with check
- Kc5 — king to c5
- 30. Rxa6 — rook to a6 (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 #559.
SP-559 · BastionGuard — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The pawn on c2 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 496.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 72 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +20 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #559Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-559
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