Winning blow: king to f1 (g1·28)
c9-24840naming 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 g1, queen h5, rook h1 d4, knight b1 b3, pawn b2 c2 g2 h2 a3 f3 e5.
Black: king g7, queen e6, rook e8 f8, bishop b6, knight b8, pawn c4 f6 a7 b7.
13 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (32 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 g1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 19, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
19. Kf1 Bxd4 20. Nxd4 Qd7 21. Nf5+ Kg8 22. exf6
Why it works
- Great move! king to f1 keeps the pressure (+2.5).
- Well found: knight to d4 (+3.1).
- Strong! knight to f5 is the sharp choice (+3.0).
- Best move. pawn to f6 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.2).
- You reach a winning position (+3.2).
- If instead Bxd4, then Nxd4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Kf1 — king to f1
- Bxd4 — bishop to d4 (capture)
- 20. Nxd4 — knight to d4 (capture)
- Qd7 — queen to d7
- 21. Nf5+ — knight to f5 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 22. exf6 — pawn to f6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #41.
SP-41 · RampartScout — King on b or g with a knight already on the edge — the least common of the position families (72 in all).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on c1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 921.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #41Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-41
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads