Winning blow: pawn to f5 (e4·12)
c9-25653naming 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 a5, rook c1 h1, bishop f1 h2, pawn c2 d2 g2 f3 h3 b4 e4.
Black: king e7, queen b7, rook f5 c8, bishop f7 g7, knight e6 d8, pawn a4 h4 c6 a7 d7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (32 against 36; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on e7.
It is White to move on move 20, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: a.
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
20. exf5 Qb6 21. Ba6 Qxa5 22. bxa5 Ra8 23. fxe6
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to f5 keeps the pressure (+2.2).
- Spot on — bishop to a6 (+1.6).
- Strong! pawn to a5 is the sharp choice (+1.7).
- Best move. pawn to e6 is exactly what the engine plays (+1.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qb6, then Ba6 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 20. exf5 — pawn to f5 (capture)
- Qb6 — queen to b6
- 21. Ba6 — bishop to a6
- Qxa5 — queen to a5 (capture)
- 22. bxa5 — pawn to a5 (capture)
- Ra8 — rook to a8
- 23. fxe6 — pawn to e6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #110.
SP-110 · ThroneGuard — The king starts in the middle of the back rank, on d or e, and neither knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 852.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #110Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-110
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