Winning blow: knight to g5 (h3·7)
c9-25092naming 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, queen b2, rook e1 b3, bishop d2 e2, knight h3 f4, pawn a2 f3 b4 d4 e5.
Black: king d8, queen a8, rook h2 c8, bishop b7 e7, knight g5 h6, pawn f5 b6 e6 a7 d7 h7.
13 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (36 against 37; 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 d8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 35 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): c, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: h.
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
21. Nxg5 Bxg5 22. Nxe6+ dxe6 23. Bxg5+ Kc7 24. Bxh6
Why it works
- Brilliant! The knight on g5 is a sacrifice that works — you are winning (+3.1).
- Well found: knight to e6 (+3.1).
- Strong! bishop to g5 is the sharp choice (+3.0).
- Best move. bishop to h6 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.2).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Bxg5, then Nxe6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21. Nxg5 — knight to g5 (capture)
- Bxg5 — bishop to g5 (capture)
- 22. Nxe6+ — knight to e6 (capture) with check
- dxe6 — pawn to e6 (capture)
- 23. Bxg5+ — bishop to g5 (capture) with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 24. Bxh6 — bishop to h6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #870.
SP-870 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on a1.
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.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 86.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 10 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +44 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 55.0% (95% CI 41.3–67.9%).
Explore position #870Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-870
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads