Winning blow: queen to d6 (c6·2)
c9-24931naming 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.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
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.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 c6, rook a1 f1, bishop g2, knight f3 f4, pawn a2 b2 f2 h2 e3 g3 d5.
Black: king d8, queen a5, rook b8 e8, bishop f6 h7, knight g6 g8, pawn b4 h6 a7.
14 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (35 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 g1, the black king on d8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 49 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Qd6+ Kc8 24. Rac1+ Bc3 25. Bh3+ Re6 26. Bxe6+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d6 keeps the pressure (#3).
- Spot on — rook to c1 (#3).
- Precise: bishop to h3 is the top choice (#2).
- Best move. bishop to e6 is exactly what the engine plays (#1).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kc8, then Rac1+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 23. Qd6+ — queen to d6 with check
- Kc8 — king to c8
- 24. Rac1+ — rook to c1 with check
- Bc3 — bishop to c3
- 25. Bh3+ — bishop to h3 with check
- Re6 — rook to e6
- 26. Bxe6+ — bishop to e6 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #887.
SP-887 · 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 d1, the rooks on a1 and e1, the queen on b1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 66.
The engine's main line opens with Nf3, bringing the knight out to f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #887Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-887
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