Winning blow: king to f1 (g1·23)
c9-25230naming 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 g1, queen e8, knight e6, pawn a2 e2 g2.
Black: king h7, queen f1, rook h6, bishop a6, pawn h5 g6 a7 f7.
6 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (15 against 21; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on h7.
It is White to move on move 36, 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 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f, h.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
36. Kxf1 fxe6 37. Qf7+ Kh8 38. Qxa7 Bxe2+ 39. Kxe2
Why it works
- Great move! king to f1 keeps the pressure (+5.4).
- Spot on — queen to f7 (+5.5).
- Precise: queen to a7 is the top choice (+5.7).
- Great move! king to e2 keeps the pressure (+5.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead fxe6, then Qf7+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 36. Kxf1 — king to f1 (capture)
- fxe6 — pawn to e6 (capture)
- 37. Qf7+ — queen to f7 with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 38. Qxa7 — queen to a7 (capture)
- Bxe2+ — bishop to e2 (capture) with check
- 39. Kxe2 — king to e2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
King evacuation
The king walks out of the danger zone on its own feet.
King evacuation: when the shelter collapses, the king walks out of the attack on his own feet — sometimes across half the board. A series of precise king moves carries him out of the firing zone, and the enemy attack dissolves. The signs: no direct defense works, but there is a route over unattacked squares to a quiet corner. Calculate the entire journey in advance — a king stranded halfway usually dies there.
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 #32.
SP-32 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
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 g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 927.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 4 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +50 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #32Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-32
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