Winning blow: queen to h2 (e5)
c9-24380naming 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 e5, bishop d2, pawn f2 g2 a4 b4 g6.
Black: king h8, queen c8, rook e4, bishop d1, pawn d5 b6 e6 a7 g7.
8 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (17 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, e.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
28. Qh2+ Kg8 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Qh8+ Ke7 31. Qxc8
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h2 keeps the pressure (+6.7).
- Well found: queen to h7 (+7.0).
- Strong! queen to h8 is the sharp choice (+6.9).
- Great move! queen to c8 keeps the pressure (+7.0).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg8, then Qh7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Qh2+ — queen to h2 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 29. Qh7+ — queen to h7 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 30. Qh8+ — queen to h8 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 31. Qxc8 — queen to c8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
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 #389.
SP-389 · RampartGuard — A wing king (b/g) with no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 762.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #389Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-389
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