Winning blow: queen to d6 (a3·3)
c9-25798naming 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 c2, queen a3, rook b1 h1, pawn d2 e3 h5 c7.
Black: king f7, queen f3, rook e8, bishop h8, knight d6, pawn a4 f5 e6 f6 a7 d7 g7.
8 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (23 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c2, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 30, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, f, g.
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
30. Qxd6 Re7 31. Rb8 Qe4+ 32. Kc3 Qxh1 33. c8=Q
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d6 keeps the pressure (+6.1).
- rook to b8 develops smoothly.
- Strong! king to c3 is the sharp choice (+10.3).
- Great move! pawn to c8 keeps the pressure (#16).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Re7, then Rb8 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 30. Qxd6 — queen to d6 (capture)
- Re7 — rook to e7
- 31. Rb8 — rook to b8
- Qe4+ — queen to e4 with check
- 32. Kc3 — king to c3
- Qxh1 — queen to h1 (capture)
- 33. c8=Q — pawn to c8
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #771.
SP-771 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 179.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
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 #771Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-771
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads