Winning blow: knight to f5 (g3·9)
c9-25486naming 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 e1, queen a8, rook e3, knight d1 g3, pawn a2 d2 e2 h2.
Black: king d6, queen c7, rook f8, bishop a1, knight g6, pawn d5 b6 f6 h6.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 24 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e1, the black king on d6.
It is White to move on move 25, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, f.
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
25. Nf5+ Kc5 26. d4+ Bxd4 27. Qa3+ Kc6 28. Nxd4+
Why it works
- Great move! knight to f5 keeps the pressure (+6.3).
- Spot on — pawn to d4 (+6.8).
- Precise: queen to a3 is the top choice (+7.4).
- Great move! knight to d4 keeps the pressure (+7.3).
- You win decisive material (+7.3).
- If instead Kc5, then d4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 25. Nf5+ — knight to f5 with check
- Kc5 — king to c5
- 26. d4+ — pawn to d4 with check
- Bxd4 — bishop to d4 (capture)
- 27. Qa3+ — queen to a3 with check
- Kc6 — king to c6
- 28. Nxd4+ — knight to d4 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Zwischenzug
Before the obvious recapture — an in-between move that wins more.
A zwischenzug means refusing the obvious reply — usually a recapture — and playing a stronger move with tempo first. Typically it is a check or a deadly threat the opponent must answer, after which you calmly take what was hanging anyway. The sign: inside a sequence of exchanges you own a check or a threat that will not run away. Whenever a line looks forced, ask what poison you can slip in between the moves.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #604.
SP-604 · 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 f1, the queen on c1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 268.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 0 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +81 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 63.0% (95% CI 49.1–75.0%).
Explore position #604Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-604
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