Winning blow: rook to c8 (c1·20)
c9-25833naming 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 1700 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 g1, queen d6, rook c1, bishop e1, pawn a2 b2 g2 h2 d4 d5.
Black: king e8, queen a7, rook e7 g8, pawn a4 b5 h6.
10 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 28.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (23 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 28, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
28. Rc8+ Kf7 29. Qf4+ Kg7 30. Qg4+ Kf7 31. Qxg8+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c8 keeps the pressure (#7).
- Well found: queen to f4 (#6).
- Precise: queen to g4 is the top choice (#5).
- Best move. queen to g8 is exactly what the engine plays (#4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kf7, then Qf4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 28. Rc8+ — rook to c8 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 29. Qf4+ — queen to f4 with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 30. Qg4+ — queen to g4 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 31. Qxg8+ — queen to g8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #601.
SP-601 · BastionScout — A c- or f-file king with at least one knight out on the edge.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling short simply swaps the two pieces: the king on f1 and the rook on g1 trade places.
The bishops stand on d1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a5 once the e- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 265.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #601Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-601
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