Winning blow: queen to a8 (a7·7)
c9-25391naming 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.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
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.
A set-up fork needs one preparing move before the fork lands — a check that drives the king onto the forking square, or a capture that lines the targets up. Find the preparation first, then the fork it makes possible.
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 c2, queen a7, rook d1, bishop a1 h1, knight f4, pawn a2 f2 h2 b3 c3 g3.
Black: king c8, queen f7, rook c6 g8, bishop a8 h8, pawn e4 g4 f5 h5 a6 e7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (29 against 31; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c2, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 46 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): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Qxa8+ Kc7 24. Qa7+ Kc8 25. Rd7 Rxc3+ 26. Bxc3
Why it works
- Great move! queen to a8 keeps the pressure (#5).
- Well found: queen to a7 (#4).
- A natural move: rook to d7.
- Best move. bishop to c3 is exactly what the engine plays (#2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kc7, then Qa7+ and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 23. Qxa8+ — queen to a8 (capture) with check
- Kc7 — king to c7
- 24. Qa7+ — queen to a7 with check
- Kc8 — king to c8
- 25. Rd7 — rook to d7
- Rxc3+ — rook to c3 (capture) with check
- 26. Bxc3 — bishop to c3 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
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 #163.
SP-163 · 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 c1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 787.
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 #163Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-163
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