Winning blow: pawn to d6 (e5·15)
c9-25475naming 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 e4, rook a1 a7, pawn e3 b5 e5.
Black: king c8, rook f5 d8, pawn d5 g5 b6 e6 h7.
6 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (13 against 15; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e4, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 33, 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 3 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, g, h.
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
33. exd6 h5 34. Ra8+ Kd7 35. R1a7+ Kxd6 36. Rxd8+
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to d6 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- Spot on — rook to a8 (+4.9).
- Strong! rook to a7 is the sharp choice (+5.1).
- Great move! rook to d8 keeps the pressure (+5.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead h5, then Ra8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 33. exd6 — pawn to d6 (capture)
- h5 — pawn to h5
- 34. Ra8+ — rook to a8 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 35. R1a7+ — rook to a7 with check
- Kxd6 — king to d6 (capture)
- 36. Rxd8+ — rook to d8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Deflection
Force the defender away from its duty — then strike what it guarded.
Deflection forces the guard to leave its post: a sacrifice or exchange drags it away from the piece or square it protects. First find the critical defender — the piece whose absence makes the mate or the material win possible. Then find the move it cannot ignore, which is usually a capture. Do not be stingy: if removing the guard wins the queen or mates, the sacrifice pays for itself many times over.
Rook endgame
The most common endgame — activity decides everything.
The rook endgame is the most common of all: rooks and pawns on the board. Its first law is activity — a rook behind a passed pawn beats a rook passively babysitting one. The sign of a correct plan is that your rook is attacking something, not guarding something. The typical error is locking your rook into defense: it is often better to give up a pawn and keep your rook and king active.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #486.
SP-486 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 566.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #486Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-486
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads