Winning blow: bishop to h8 (b2)
c9-25498naming 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 a1, rook h1, bishop b2, knight f4 g5, pawn a2 f2 g2 h3 c4 d5.
Black: king g8, queen a8, rook e8 h8, bishop g6 d8, knight b8, pawn b4 b5 d6 a7 e7 h7.
12 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 16.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (29 against 34; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 16, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: b, e.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
16. Bxh8 e5 17. dxe6 Re7 18. Nf7 Rxf7 19. exf7+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to h8 keeps the pressure (+6.9).
- Well found: pawn to e6 (+7.3).
- A natural move: knight to f7.
- Great move! pawn to f7 keeps the pressure (+7.3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead e5, then dxe6 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 16. Bxh8 — bishop to h8 (capture)
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 17. dxe6 — pawn to e6 (capture)
- Re7 — rook to e7
- 18. Nf7 — knight to f7
- Rxf7 — rook to f7 (capture)
- 19. exf7+ — pawn to f7 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #197.
SP-197 · BastionGuard — Off-centre king (c/f), no knight on the a- or h-file.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 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 d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2, g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 666.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #197Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-197
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