Winning blow: bishop to f2 (g1·7)
c9-24635naming 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 c1, queen a1, rook d1, bishop g1, knight b1 g3, pawn a2 b2 c2 d2 h2 e4 f4.
Black: king f7, queen f2, rook c8 f8, bishop d8 g8, knight g6 b8, pawn h5 a6 b6 e6 f6 c7.
13 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 13.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (30 against 37; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 13, with 22 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
13. Bxf2 Nxf4 14. Be3 h4 15. Bxf4 hxg3 16. Bxg3
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to f2 keeps the pressure (+3.8).
- bishop to e3 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to f4 is the top choice (+3.7).
- Best move. bishop to g3 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Nxf4, then Be3 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 13. Bxf2 — bishop to f2 (capture)
- Nxf4 — knight to f4 (capture)
- 14. Be3 — bishop to e3
- h4 — pawn to h4
- 15. Bxf4 — bishop to f4 (capture)
- hxg3 — pawn to g3 (capture)
- 16. Bxg3 — bishop to g3 (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.
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.
Development punish
Half the army still asleep — the attack breaks through.
Punishing lazy development: half of your opponent's army is asleep on its starting squares, which means you outnumber him where the fight is. Count not the pieces on the board but the pieces in play — if five or more of his pieces have never moved, look for a forcing attack. The sign is a development lead plus open lines toward his king. Strike immediately: give him two quiet moves and the advantage evaporates.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #301.
SP-301 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on a1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 376.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #301Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-301
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