Winning blow: pawn to f5 (e4·11)
c9-25218naming 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 e1, bishop f1, knight f2 g4, pawn a2 b2 c3 e4 h6.
Black: king c7, queen f5, bishop c6, knight e6 d7, pawn c5 e5 b6 a7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (14 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 e1, the black king on c7.
It is White to move on move 30, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
30. exf5 Ng5 31. Bc4 Nh7 32. Bg8 Ndf8 33. Nxe5
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to f5 keeps the pressure (+4.1).
- bishop to c4 develops smoothly.
- A natural move: bishop to g8.
- Best move. knight to e5 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Ng5, then Bc4 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 30. exf5 — pawn to f5 (capture)
- Ng5 — knight to g5
- 31. Bc4 — bishop to c4
- Nh7 — knight to h7
- 32. Bg8 — bishop to g8
- Ndf8 — knight to f8
- 33. Nxe5 — knight to e5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #86.
SP-86 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 870.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 57 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +34 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 50.0% (95% CI 36.6–63.4%).
Explore position #86Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-86
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