Winning blow: rook to g2 (e2)
c9-25647naming 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 1430 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, rook c2 e2, bishop a1 b3, knight f6, pawn b2 h2 a3.
Black: king f8, rook f4, bishop e3 c6, knight g2 h8, pawn f5 g5 b6 d7 h7.
9 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 22 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 f8.
It is White to move on move 26, 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 3 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, f, g.
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
26. Rxg2 Bxg2 27. Rxg2 Ng6 28. Re2 Rf3 29. Nxd7+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g2 keeps the pressure (+2.7).
- Well found: rook to g2 (+2.8).
- A natural move: rook to e2.
- Best move. knight to d7 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.2).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Bxg2, then Rxg2 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 26. Rxg2 — rook to g2 (capture)
- Bxg2 — bishop to g2 (capture)
- 27. Rxg2 — rook to g2 (capture)
- Ng6 — knight to g6
- 28. Re2 — rook to e2
- Rf3 — rook to f3
- 29. Nxd7+ — knight to d7 (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.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #353.
SP-353 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 315.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 52, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #353Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-353
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