Winning blow: queen to h8 (h6·3)
c9-25358naming 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 1700 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 f1, queen h6, rook c1, bishop a1 b1, knight e3, pawn a2 e2 f2 g2 b3 d5.
Black: king e8, queen d7, rook c8, bishop a8 b8, knight d6, pawn c4 g5 b6 f6 a7 e7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 29 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on f1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 19, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
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
19. Qh8+ Kf7 20. Qh7+ Kf8 21. Bg6 e5 22. Qxd7
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h8 keeps the pressure (+9.4).
- Spot on — queen to h7 (+11.4).
- A natural move: bishop to g6.
- Great move! queen to d7 keeps the pressure (#16).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kf7, then Qh7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Qh8+ — queen to h8 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 20. Qh7+ — queen to h7 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 21. Bg6 — bishop to g6
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 22. Qxd7 — queen to d7 (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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #448.
SP-448 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share this family.
The king starts on f1, 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: d2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 703.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #448Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-448
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