Winning blow: rook to c3 (d3·2)
c9-25249naming 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 a3, queen a5, rook d3, bishop f1, pawn a4 d4 g6.
Black: king c8, queen f2, rook e6, bishop h8, knight a6, pawn d5 f5 g7.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (20 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on a3, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 35, with 23 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c, e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
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
35. Rc3+ Kd7 36. Bxa6 Qf4 37. Bc8+ Ke7 38. Bxe6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c3 keeps the pressure (+5.9).
- Spot on — bishop to a6 (+5.8).
- Precise: bishop to c8 is the top choice (+7.1).
- Best move. bishop to e6 is exactly what the engine plays (+7.4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kd7, then Bxa6 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 35. Rc3+ — rook to c3 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 36. Bxa6 — bishop to a6 (capture)
- Qf4 — queen to f4
- 37. Bc8+ — bishop to c8 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 38. Bxe6 — bishop to e6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
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 #651.
SP-651 · BastionGuard — King shifted to c or f, knights kept clear of the edges — 168 positions in all.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and d1, the queen on f1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 209.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #651Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-651
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