Winning blow: knight to h4
c9-24924Opens 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 e2, rook c1 g1, bishop h1, knight f3, pawn a2 f2 b3 e4 d5.
Black: king c8, rook d7 g8, bishop h4 a8, pawn e5 f5 b6 g6 a7 c7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (21 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 26, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, g.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26. Nxh4 fxe4 27. Nxg6 Bxd5 28. Nxe5 Rxg1 29. Rxg1
Why it works
- Great move! knight to h4 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Spot on — knight to g6 (+4.7).
- Precise: knight to e5 is the top choice (+4.9).
- Great move! rook to g1 keeps the pressure (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead fxe4, then Nxg6 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 26. Nxh4 — knight to h4 (capture)
- fxe4 — pawn to e4 (capture)
- 27. Nxg6 — knight to g6 (capture)
- Bxd5 — bishop to d5 (capture)
- 28. Nxe5 — knight to e5 (capture)
- Rxg1 — rook to g1 (capture)
- 29. Rxg1 — rook to g1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #227.
SP-227 · 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 e1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on d1.
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 627.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #227Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-227
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