Winning blow: bishop to c2 (g6·3)
c9-25963naming 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, rook c1 g5, bishop f6 g6, knight h3, pawn a2 d2 b3 e3 c4 f4 h5.
Black: king e8, queen b8, rook h7 c8, bishop a8, knight c2, pawn c5 a6 b6 d6 e6 f7.
13 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (26 against 31; 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 6 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
24. Bxc2 Rh6 25. Bg7 Qb7 26. Nf2 Rxh5 27. Rxh5
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to c2 keeps the pressure (+2.8).
- Well found: bishop to g7 (+3.0).
- A natural move: knight to f2.
- Great move! rook to h5 keeps the pressure (+2.9).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rh6, then Bg7 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 24. Bxc2 — bishop to c2 (capture)
- Rh6 — rook to h6
- 25. Bg7 — bishop to g7
- Qb7 — queen to b7
- 26. Nf2 — knight to f2
- Rxh5 — rook to h5 (capture)
- 27. Rxh5 — rook to h5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
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 #482.
SP-482 · 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 b1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 567.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #482Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-482
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