Winning blow: pawn to e5 (d4·26)
c9-26525naming 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, queen h8, rook a1, bishop c1 g6, knight f5, pawn b2 g2 h2 a3 e3 d4.
Black: king f8, queen d8, rook b8 e8, bishop e5 a6, knight g8, pawn c6 a7 e7 g7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (29 against 32; 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 20, with 33 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
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
20. dxe5 Qa5+ 21. Bd2 Qxe5 22. Bc3 Qxe3+ 23. Nxe3
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to e5 keeps the pressure (#19).
- Well found: bishop to d2 (#17).
- Strong! bishop to c3 is the sharp choice (#11).
- Great move! knight to e3 keeps the pressure (#9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qa5+, then Bd2 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 20. dxe5 — pawn to e5 (capture)
- Qa5+ — queen to a5 with check
- 21. Bd2 — bishop to d2
- Qxe5 — queen to e5 (capture)
- 22. Bc3 — bishop to c3
- Qxe3+ — queen to e3 (capture) with check
- 23. Nxe3 — knight to e3 (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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #884.
SP-884 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on d1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: g2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 78.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #884Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-884
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