Winning blow: pawn to c5 (d4·12)
c9-25742naming 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 e3, knight f2, pawn b2 f3 h3 a4 d4 a6.
Black: king f7, queen c5, rook d2, pawn d5 e6 f6 h7.
8 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 9 points of material (9 against 18; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e3, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 35, with 14 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e.
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
35. dxc5 Rxb2 36. a7 d4+ 37. Kd3 e5 38. a8=Q
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to c5 keeps the pressure (+6.0).
- Well found: pawn to a7 (+6.0).
- A natural move: king to d3.
- Sensible development: pawn to a8.
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rxb2, then a7 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 35. dxc5 — pawn to c5 (capture)
- Rxb2 — rook to b2 (capture)
- 36. a7 — pawn to a7
- d4+ — pawn to d4 with check
- 37. Kd3 — king to d3
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 38. a8=Q — pawn to a8
Types in this puzzle
Promotion
The pawn reaches the last rank and becomes a queen — decisively.
Promotion turns a pawn on the last rank into a queen and rewrites the evaluation on the spot. In tactics the passer rarely walks in for free — usually a sacrifice clears its path. Count the tempi: how many moves does the pawn need, and can the defender stop it in time? And watch the promotion square itself — it must be out of enemy reach or won by force in your combination.
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.
Mate defense
Mate is threatened — parry it and stay on top.
Mate defense: your opponent is one move from mating you — but it is your turn, and that changes everything. Find the defense that kills the mating threat while keeping your advantage: often a check or a counter-threat that leaves no time for the mate. First name the exact square where the mate would land — otherwise you are defending blind. The mistake is playing a "defensive" move that does not actually remove the threat.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #158.
SP-158 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 804.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #158Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-158
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