Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g7 (f5·20)
c9-24848naming 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.
An opening trap from this Chess960 starting position.
Uncastled king: the enemy king is stuck in the centre — punish it before it castles.
Winning tactic: there is a move that gains a decisive advantage — find it.
Difficulty 1430 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.
Early Chess960 traps punish natural but careless development. Look for a forcing move that exploits a piece the opponent has just placed on a poor square — a fork, a pin or a threat that wins material before either side is fully developed.
An uncastled king in the centre is a standing target. Look for ways to open the central files and diagonals against it with checks and threats before it can shelter — every tempo the king spends in the middle is a chance for a combination.
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 e1, queen g8, rook d1, bishop c1 f1, knight a1 f5, pawn a2 b2 d2 e2 f2 g2 c4.
Black: king e8, queen g1, rook d8, bishop c8 f8, knight g6 a8, pawn d5 c6 a7 b7 e7 f7 g7.
14 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 6.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 33 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 6, with 29 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
6. Nxg7+ Kd7 7. Qxf7 Bxg7 8. Qf5+ Kc7 9. Qxg6
Why it works
- Great move! knight to g7 keeps the pressure (+0.8).
- Spot on — queen to f7 (+1.0).
- Precise: queen to f5 is the top choice (+0.6).
- Great move! queen to g6 keeps the pressure (+1.1).
- You reach a winning position (+1.1).
- If instead Kd7, then Qxf7 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 6. Nxg7+ — knight to g7 (capture) with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 7. Qxf7 — queen to f7 (capture)
- Bxg7 — bishop to g7 (capture)
- 8. Qf5+ — queen to f5 with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 9. Qxg6 — queen to g6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
King in the center
The king starts in the middle — and the storm reaches it first.
King in the center: in Chess960 the monarch may start on the d- or e-file, right in the line of fire, and the attack can reach him before he ever castles. The signs: the enemy king still sits on its central starting square while the files toward it are opening. Play to rip the center open — a pawn sacrifice usually pays off here. And if it is your king in the middle, castle at the very first opportunity.
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Uncastled king
The king lingered in the middle — punish the delay.
Punishing the uncastled king: your opponent delayed castling, and now his king is stuck on its starting square under fire. In Chess960 this is deadlier than in classical chess — the king may start in the center or near the edge, and the familiar defensive setups simply do not apply. The signs: the victim still holds castling rights, and the files toward his king are half-open. Open lines before the king manages to hide.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #310.
SP-310 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on b1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 358.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 14 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +40 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #310Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-310
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads