Winning blow: rook to h5 (h6)
c9-25080naming 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 1250 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 g1, queen f3, rook b1 h6, bishop c3 f5, pawn a2 b2 g2 e3.
Black: king h8, queen g5, rook g6 b8, bishop e5, knight c4, pawn b5 d5 a7 h7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 29 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 49 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, h.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
25. Rh5 Bxc3 26. Rxg5 Rxg5 27. bxc3
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h5 keeps the pressure (+4.0).
- Spot on — rook to g5 (+4.2).
- Precise: pawn to c3 is the top choice (+4.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxc3, then Rxg5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 25. Rh5 — rook to h5
- Bxc3 — bishop to c3 (capture)
- 26. Rxg5 — rook to g5 (capture)
- Rxg5 — rook to g5 (capture)
- 27. bxc3 — pawn to c3 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #154.
SP-154 · RampartScout — A knight in the corner and the king out on the wing (b/g); like every family, it is closed under mirror twins.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 805.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #154Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-154
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads