Winning blow: pawn to b4 (a3·3)
c9-24857naming 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 d1, rook a1 h1, bishop b2 e2, knight a4, pawn c2 d2 g2 h2 a3 b3 f4 f5.
Black: king d7, queen b4, rook e8 h8, bishop g7 g8, knight f6, pawn e4 h4 c5 d5 a7 c7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (27 against 34; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on d7.
It is White to move on move 21, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: e.
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
21. axb4 cxb4 22. Nc5+ Kd6 23. Nb7+ Kc6 24. Rxa7
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to b4 keeps the pressure (+4.2).
- Spot on — knight to c5 (+3.8).
- Precise: knight to b7 is the top choice (+3.5).
- Great move! rook to a7 keeps the pressure (+3.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead cxb4, then Nc5+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 21. axb4 — pawn to b4 (capture)
- cxb4 — pawn to b4 (capture)
- 22. Nc5+ — knight to c5 with check
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 23. Nb7+ — knight to b7 with check
- Kc6 — king to c6
- 24. Rxa7 — rook to a7 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #542.
SP-542 · BastionGuard — A c- or f-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 516.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #542Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-542
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