Winning blow: queen to f3 (e3·3)
c9-25452naming 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, queen e3, rook a1 f1, bishop c1, knight f5, pawn b2 c2 f2 g2 d4 e4 h4 a6.
Black: king f8, queen b8, rook a8 g8, bishop c6 f6, knight f3 f4, pawn b6 a7 d7 e7 h7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (33 against 36; 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 f8.
It is White to move on move 19, with 2 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 8 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
19. Qxf3 Nxg2 20. Kh1 e6 21. Ng3 Ke7 22. Kxg2
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f3 keeps the pressure (+2.1).
- Well found: king to h1 (+1.4).
- Strong! knight to g3 is the sharp choice (+2.2).
- Best move. king to g2 is exactly what the engine plays (+2.1).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Nxg2, then Kh1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Qxf3 — queen to f3 (capture)
- Nxg2 — knight to g2 (capture)
- 20. Kh1 — king to h1
- e6 — pawn to e6
- 21. Ng3 — knight to g3
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 22. Kxg2 — king to g2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Interference
A piece lands between defender and defended, cutting the connection.
Interference means planting a piece between the defender and what it defends, cutting the wire. Often it is a sacrifice: the piece lands on a square where it can be taken, yet two enemy defensive lines cross exactly there. Look for that intersection point — the square shared by two of the opponent's lines of defense. The intruder can be captured, but whichever piece takes it abandons its own duty.
King evacuation
The king walks out of the danger zone on its own feet.
King evacuation: when the shelter collapses, the king walks out of the attack on his own feet — sometimes across half the board. A series of precise king moves carries him out of the firing zone, and the enemy attack dissolves. The signs: no direct defense works, but there is a route over unattacked squares to a quiet corner. Calculate the entire journey in advance — a king stranded halfway usually dies there.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #598.
SP-598 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
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.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 262.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #598Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-598
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