Winning blow: queen to h8 (g7·2)
c9-24563naming 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 f1, queen g7, rook g3, bishop b1 e1, knight e3, pawn a2 e2 f2 g2 b3 c4 h4.
Black: king e8, queen c5, rook d8 h8, bishop f7, knight c6 c8, pawn e4 d5 h5 a6 b7 d7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (30 against 34; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: d.
White 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
21. Qxh8+ Qf8 22. Qh7 dxc4 23. bxc4 N6e7 24. Qxe4
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h8 keeps the pressure (+5.5).
- Spot on — queen to h7 (+5.2).
- Precise: pawn to c4 is the top choice (+5.4).
- Best move. queen to e4 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qf8, then Qh7 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 21. Qxh8+ — queen to h8 (capture) with check
- Qf8 — queen to f8
- 22. Qh7 — queen to h7
- dxc4 — pawn to c4 (capture)
- 23. bxc4 — pawn to c4 (capture)
- N6e7 — knight to e7
- 24. Qxe4 — queen to e4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #104.
SP-104 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on d1 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 b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 861.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #104Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-104
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