Winning blow: rook to d3 (d1·4)
c9-26371naming 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 1390 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 h1, queen e8, rook d1, bishop g4, knight e1, pawn g2 h2 c3 d5 f5.
Black: king h7, queen a2, rook d6, bishop b3, knight h8, pawn c5 f6 a7 b7 g7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 25 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h1, the black king on h7.
It is White to move on move 31, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31. Rd3 Qd2 32. Rh3+ Qh6 33. Bh5 Bc2 34. Nxc2
Why it works
- Sensible development: rook to d3.
- Spot on — rook to h3 (+8.2).
- Strong! bishop to h5 is the sharp choice (#6).
- Great move! knight to c2 keeps the pressure (#5).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Qd2, then Rh3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31. Rd3 — rook to d3
- Qd2 — queen to d2
- 32. Rh3+ — rook to h3 with check
- Qh6 — queen to h6
- 33. Bh5 — bishop to h5
- Bc2 — bishop to c2
- 34. Nxc2 — knight to c2 (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 #341.
SP-341 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 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.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 330.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 34 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +31 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #341Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-341
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