Winning blow: bishop to h4 (g3)
c9-23858naming 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 d1, rook f3, bishop g3, knight c4, pawn a2 e2 d4 b5 c5 e5.
Black: king e8, queen h4, rook a8, bishop c8, knight f7, pawn a4 c6 b7 d7.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (17 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
29. Bxh4 cxb5 30. Rg3 Kf8 31. Nb6 Ra6 32. Nxc8
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to h4 keeps the pressure (+5.5).
- rook to g3 develops smoothly.
- A natural move: knight to b6.
- Best move. knight to c8 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.4).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead cxb5, then Rg3 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 29. Bxh4 — bishop to h4 (capture)
- cxb5 — pawn to b5 (capture)
- 30. Rg3 — rook to g3
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 31. Nb6 — knight to b6
- Ra6 — rook to a6
- 32. Nxc8 — knight to c8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Trapped piece
The attacked piece has no safe square — it is caught.
Trapping a piece means the attacked piece has no safe square left — it simply perishes. Do not chase it around; build a cage instead: cut off the escape squares with pawns and pieces first, and attack last. The typical victim has wandered deep into your camp or is stuck at the edge of the board, where its mobility is tiny. And always check the way home for your own raiders — or the trapped piece will be yours.
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 #183.
SP-183 · ThroneScout — Centre-file king, rim knight: 204 of the 960 positions share this pattern.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 770.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 50, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #183Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-183
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