Winning blow: queen to e5 (e3·5)
c9-25036naming 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 1700 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 e1, queen e3, rook b1 g1, bishop a1 h1, knight h6, pawn a2 c2 e2 f2 b4 d4 g4.
Black: king g7, queen c8, rook d7 b8, bishop a8 h8, knight f4, pawn b5 e5 g6 a7 c7 h7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
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 e1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 15, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: h.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
15. Qxe5+ Kxh6 16. g5+ Kh5 17. Qxf4 Rxd4 18. Bxd4
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e5 keeps the pressure (#8).
- Well found: pawn to g5 (#7).
- Strong! queen to f4 is the sharp choice (#6).
- Best move. bishop to d4 is exactly what the engine plays (#5).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kxh6, then g5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 15. Qxe5+ — queen to e5 (capture) with check
- Kxh6 — king to h6 (capture)
- 16. g5+ — pawn to g5 with check
- Kh5 — king to h5
- 17. Qxf4 — queen to f4 (capture)
- Rxd4 — rook to d4 (capture)
- 18. Bxd4 — bishop to d4 (capture)
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.
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.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #499.
SP-499 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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 547.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 71 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 54.0% (95% CI 40.4–67.0%).
Explore position #499Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-499
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