Winning blow: queen to a5 (f5)
c9-25571naming 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 b1, queen f5, rook f1 f2, pawn b2 c2 a4.
Black: king a7, queen h6, rook g8, bishop h5, knight e6, pawn a5 c6 b7 h7.
7 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (22 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on a7.
It is White to move on move 30, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e, f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: 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
30. Qxa5+ Kb8 31. Qe5+ Ka8 32. Rf6 Bg6 33. Rxe6
Why it works
- Great move! queen to a5 keeps the pressure (+2.7).
- Well found: queen to e5 (+2.9).
- A natural move: rook to f6.
- Best move. rook to e6 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.9).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Kb8, then Qe5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 30. Qxa5+ — queen to a5 (capture) with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 31. Qe5+ — queen to e5 with check
- Ka8 — king to a8
- 32. Rf6 — rook to f6
- Bg6 — bishop to g6
- 33. Rxe6 — rook to e6 (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.
Rook fork
The rook attacks two targets along rank and file at the same time.
A rook fork attacks two targets from one square — one along the file, the other along the rank. Look for enemy pieces standing at a right angle to each other, both visible from a single safe square. This is bread and butter in endgames, where a rook check picks up loose pieces and pawns along the way. Test every rook check you have: does it also hit something valuable on the other line?
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #954.
SP-954 · RampartGuard — King on the wing (b/g) with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and c1, the queen on h1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 5.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #954Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-954
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