Winning blow: rook to a8 (a1·12)
c9-24688naming 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 1700 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 h1, queen b6, rook a1 e1, bishop g2, pawn b2 h2 d4.
Black: king d8, queen d2, rook c7 f8, knight c6 g8, pawn d5 g5 h6 e7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (25 against 29; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 31, with 42 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, g.
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
31. Ra8+ Kd7 32. Bh3+ g4 33. Bxg4+ Rf5 34. Bxf5+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to a8 keeps the pressure (#8).
- Well found: bishop to h3 (#7).
- Strong! bishop to g4 is the sharp choice (#6).
- Great move! bishop to f5 keeps the pressure (#4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kd7, then Bh3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31. Ra8+ — rook to a8 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 32. Bh3+ — bishop to h3 with check
- g4 — pawn to g4
- 33. Bxg4+ — bishop to g4 (capture) with check
- Rf5 — rook to f5
- 34. Bxf5+ — bishop to f5 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #791.
SP-791 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 162.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #791Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-791
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