Winning blow: bishop to d1 (c2·4)
c9-24149naming 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 1250 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 d2, rook a1 g1, bishop c2, knight f2, pawn a2 b2 h2 e3 g3 c4 d4.
Black: king c8, queen f3, rook d8 g8, bishop c7 e8, pawn d5 f6 a7 b7 e7 g7 h7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
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 c8.
It is White to move on move 17, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: f.
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
17. Bd1 Qf5 18. Bg4 Qxg4 19. Nxg4
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to d1 keeps the pressure (+3.7).
- Well found: bishop to g4 (+3.5).
- Strong! knight to g4 is the sharp choice (+3.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qf5, then Bg4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 17. Bd1 — bishop to d1
- Qf5 — queen to f5
- 18. Bg4 — bishop to g4
- Qxg4 — queen to g4 (capture)
- 19. Nxg4 — knight to g4 (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 #792.
SP-792 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and g1, 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 b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 173.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 2 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +55 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #792Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-792
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads