Winning blow: rook to e6 (e1·15)
c9-25259naming 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 h3, queen f7, rook e1, pawn a2 h2 f3 g3.
Black: king c8, queen b6, rook c2 e6, pawn b5 a7 h7.
7 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (18 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 h3, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
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
29. Rxe6 Qc7 30. Re8+ Kb7 31. Re7 Kb6 32. Rxc7
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e6 keeps the pressure (+6.6).
- Spot on — rook to e8 (+6.6).
- Strong! rook to e7 is the sharp choice (+6.6).
- Best move. rook to c7 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qc7, then Re8+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 29. Rxe6 — rook to e6 (capture)
- Qc7 — queen to c7
- 30. Re8+ — rook to e8 with check
- Kb7 — king to b7
- 31. Re7 — rook to e7
- Kb6 — king to b6
- 32. Rxc7 — rook to c7 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Absolute pin
A piece is pinned against its king — it cannot legally move.
An absolute pin freezes a piece on the line between its own king and your long-range attacker: moving it is simply illegal. The pattern is three units on one straight line — your bishop, rook or queen, an enemy piece, and the enemy king behind it. A pinned piece neither attacks nor defends anything: treat it as if it were off the board. Pile up on it, ideally with a pawn, because running away is against the rules.
Queen trap
The strongest piece ventures too far — and cannot come back.
A queen trap catches the strongest piece after it ventures too far and finds no way home. The usual story is a queen grabbing a distant pawn — the classic poisoned pawn. The warning signs: the queen has few retreat squares, and enemy minor pieces cut them off one by one, gaining tempo with every move. Before your queen snacks on a pawn in enemy territory, count her escape routes — fewer than two means stay home.
Battery
Two pieces stacked on one line — the front one strikes with double force.
A battery stacks two long-range pieces on one line — a queen behind a bishop on a diagonal, or doubled rooks on a file. The front piece strikes with double force: capture it, and the piece behind recaptures with even more pressure. The battery is ready when both pieces already stare at one point and only the front strike is missing. Build batteries in advance on lines leading to the king — the doubling itself often breeds the combination.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #499.
SP-499 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 547.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 71 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 54.0% (95% CI 40.4–67.0%).
Explore position #499Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-499
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