Mate in 2: queen to g6 (e4·3)
c9-25906naming 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.
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1220 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.
Mate in two usually opens with a forcing move — a check, a capture or an unstoppable threat — that strips the king of squares or defenders, so the follow-up mate becomes unavoidable. Look for the first move that leaves the opponent only losing replies.
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 e4, rook h1 f2, bishop e5, pawn g3 f4 c5 h6.
Black: king g8, queen b3, pawn d2 g4 e6 a7.
9 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 13 points of material (26 against 13; 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 g8.
It is White to move on move 38, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d, e.
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
38. Qg6+ Kf8 39. Bd6#
Why it works
- Best move. queen to g6 is exactly what the engine plays (#1).
- Spot on — bishop to d6 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kf8, then Bd6# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 38. Qg6+ — queen to g6 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 39. Bd6# — bishop to d6 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 2
A forced checkmate in two moves.
Mate in two: your move, any reply, then the mating blow. Start with the most forcing first moves — checks and sacrifices that shrink the opponent's options to almost nothing. Against every single reply you must have a mate ready, so check them all without exception. The common failure is analyzing the pretty defense and forgetting the boring one.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #1.
SP-1 · RampartGuard — The king starts out on a wing file, b or g, with neither knight in a corner.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on f1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
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: d2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 955.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #1Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-1
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