Winning blow: rook to g8 (g1·11)
c9-26061naming 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 e2, queen d4, rook g1, bishop a3, pawn d2 a4 b5 e5.
Black: king e8, queen c7, rook e6, knight d5 g8, pawn b6 a7 d7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (21 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 36, with 44 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, f, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
36. Rxg8+ Kf7 37. Rg5 Nf6 38. Kd1 Qb7 39. exf6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g8 keeps the pressure (+5.0).
- rook to g5 develops smoothly.
- A natural move: king to d1.
- Best move. pawn to f6 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.2).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Kf7, then Rg5 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 36. Rxg8+ — rook to g8 (capture) with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 37. Rg5 — rook to g5
- Nf6 — knight to f6
- 38. Kd1 — king to d1
- Qb7 — queen to b7
- 39. exf6 — pawn to f6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
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 #291.
SP-291 · 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
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 371.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #291Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-291
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