Winning blow: king to g1 (h1·9)
c9-24774naming 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 1390 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 h1, rook d4, bishop a1, pawn a2 g2 e3 h4 c6 c7 d7.
Black: king f8, queen h7, rook c8, knight g3, pawn e4 g4 b5 a6.
10 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 32.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (15 against 21; 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 f8.
It is White to move on move 32, with 2 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
32. Kg1 Ne2+ 33. Kf1 Qf5+ 34. Kxe2 Kf7 35. d8=Q
Why it works
- Great move! king to g1 keeps the pressure (+8.4).
- Well found: king to f1 (+9.9).
- Strong! king to e2 is the sharp choice (+11.2).
- Great move! pawn to d8 keeps the pressure (#8).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Ne2+, then Kf1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 32. Kg1 — king to g1
- Ne2+ — knight to e2 with check
- 33. Kf1 — king to f1
- Qf5+ — queen to f5 with check
- 34. Kxe2 — king to e2 (capture)
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 35. d8=Q — pawn to d8
Types in this puzzle
Promotion
The pawn reaches the last rank and becomes a queen — decisively.
Promotion turns a pawn on the last rank into a queen and rewrites the evaluation on the spot. In tactics the passer rarely walks in for free — usually a sacrifice clears its path. Count the tempi: how many moves does the pawn need, and can the defender stop it in time? And watch the promotion square itself — it must be out of enemy reach or won by force in your combination.
King evacuation
The king walks out of the danger zone on its own feet.
King evacuation: when the shelter collapses, the king walks out of the attack on his own feet — sometimes across half the board. A series of precise king moves carries him out of the firing zone, and the enemy attack dissolves. The signs: no direct defense works, but there is a route over unattacked squares to a quiet corner. Calculate the entire journey in advance — a king stranded halfway usually dies there.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #273.
SP-273 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 587.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +46 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #273Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-273
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