Winning blow: knight to e6 (c7·9)
c9-26164naming 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 1750 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 e2, queen d7, rook d1, bishop f2, knight c7, pawn a2 b3 e3 f4.
Black: king g8, queen h3, rook h8, bishop b8, knight f7, pawn b5 c5 g6 a7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 24 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e2, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 46 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): d, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, g.
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
27. Ne6 Qg4+ 28. Kd2 Qxe6 29. Qxe6
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e6 keeps the pressure (+6.9).
- Well found: king to d2 (+7.3).
- Strong! queen to e6 is the sharp choice (+7.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qg4+, then Kd2 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 27. Ne6 — knight to e6
- Qg4+ — queen to g4 with check
- 28. Kd2 — king to d2
- Qxe6 — queen to e6 (capture)
- 29. Qxe6 — queen to e6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #492.
SP-492 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on a1.
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.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 572.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #492Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-492
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