Winning blow: queen to e6 (e4·6)
c9-26010naming 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 1430 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, queen e4, rook a1 f1, bishop c1, knight d5, pawn a2 b2 e2 c3 d3 g5.
Black: king f8, queen h2, rook a8 g8, bishop c8, knight e6 d7, pawn g6 a7 b7 f7 h7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 16.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (31 against 33; 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 f8.
It is White to move on move 16, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: f, h.
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
16. Qxe6 Ne5 17. Qd6+ Kg7 18. Rxf7+ Nxf7 19. Qxh2
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e6 keeps the pressure (+8.7).
- Spot on — queen to d6 (+9.4).
- Precise: rook to f7 is the top choice (+6.6).
- Great move! queen to h2 keeps the pressure (+7.1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Ne5, then Qd6+ and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 16. Qxe6 — queen to e6 (capture)
- Ne5 — knight to e5
- 17. Qd6+ — queen to d6 with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 18. Rxf7+ — rook to f7 (capture) with check
- Nxf7 — knight to f7 (capture)
- 19. Qxh2 — queen to h2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Absolute pin
A piece is pinned against its king — it cannot legally move.
An absolute pin freezes a piece on the line between its own king and your long-range attacker: moving it is simply illegal. The pattern is three units on one straight line — your bishop, rook or queen, an enemy piece, and the enemy king behind it. A pinned piece neither attacks nor defends anything: treat it as if it were off the board. Pile up on it, ideally with a pawn, because running away is against the rules.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #455.
SP-455 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 690.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #455Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-455
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