Winning blow: king to f2 (g1·13)
c9-25262naming 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, rook c1, bishop a1 e2, knight g3, pawn a2 c2 d2 g2 h2 b3.
Black: king e8, rook b8, bishop f2 a8, knight b4 f7, pawn c6 d6 d7 h7.
11 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (20 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 17, with 3 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 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, f — 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
17. Kxf2 Nxa2 18. Re1 Kd8 19. Bd3 Kc7 20. Bxh7
Why it works
- Great move! king to f2 keeps the pressure (+4.1).
- rook to e1 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to d3 is the top choice (+4.2).
- Best move. bishop to h7 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.2).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Nxa2, then Re1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 17. Kxf2 — king to f2 (capture)
- Nxa2 — knight to a2 (capture)
- 18. Re1 — rook to e1
- Kd8 — king to d8
- 19. Bd3 — bishop to d3
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 20. Bxh7 — bishop to h7 (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.
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 #257.
SP-257 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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 603.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #257Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-257
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