Winning blow: rook to e2 (e1·8)
c9-25226naming 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 d2, rook e1, bishop d4, knight e7, pawn a3 f4 h5.
Black: king f8, queen e2, rook c8 g8, pawn b4 a6 f6 d7 g7.
7 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 10 points of material (14 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d2, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 31, with 2 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, d, g.
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
31. Rxe2 Kf7 32. axb4 Rc4 33. Nf5 Rxd4+ 34. Nxd4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e2 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- Spot on — pawn to b4 (+3.9).
- Strong! knight to f5 is the sharp choice (+4.0).
- Great move! knight to d4 keeps the pressure (+4.2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kf7, then axb4 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 31. Rxe2 — rook to e2 (capture)
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 32. axb4 — pawn to b4 (capture)
- Rc4 — rook to c4
- 33. Nf5 — knight to f5
- Rxd4+ — rook to d4 (capture) with check
- 34. Nxd4 — knight to d4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
Mate defense
Mate is threatened — parry it and stay on top.
Mate defense: your opponent is one move from mating you — but it is your turn, and that changes everything. Find the defense that kills the mating threat while keeping your advantage: often a check or a counter-threat that leaves no time for the mate. First name the exact square where the mate would land — otherwise you are defending blind. The mistake is playing a "defensive" move that does not actually remove the threat.
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 #768.
SP-768 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on c1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 191.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 9 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +44 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #768Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-768
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