Winning blow: rook to b3 (b1·2)
c9-23842naming 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 1610 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 e6, rook b1 g1, bishop c6, knight h1, pawn a2 d2 f2 h2 c3 f3 b4.
Black: king a6, queen f8, rook b8 d8, bishop e7, knight h6, pawn d5 e5 b6 f6 a7 c7 h7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 32 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 a6.
It is White to move on move 15, with 46 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
15. Rb3 Bxb4 16. Rxb4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to b3 keeps the pressure (+6.4).
- Well found: rook to b4 (+6.6).
- You win decisive material (+6.6).
- If instead Bxb4, then Rxb4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 15. Rb3 — rook to b3
- Bxb4 — bishop to b4 (capture)
- 16. Rxb4 — rook to b4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #897.
SP-897 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 3 pawns with no defender at all: a2, g2, h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 59.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #897Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-897
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