Winning blow: rook to b6 (b1·2)
c9-26581naming 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 e2, queen c6, rook b1 g1, bishop e6, knight d3, pawn e3 f3 h3.
Black: king d8, queen e7, rook a5 f6, bishop a3, knight e8, pawn b6 c7 g7 h7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (28 against 29; 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 d8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 63 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, c, g.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Rxb6 Qxe6 25. Rb8+ Qc8 26. Rxc8+ Kxc8 27. Qxe8+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to b6 keeps the pressure (+6.0).
- Well found: rook to b8 (+6.1).
- Strong! rook to c8 is the sharp choice (+6.2).
- Great move! queen to e8 keeps the pressure (+6.3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxe6, then Rb8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24. Rxb6 — rook to b6 (capture)
- Qxe6 — queen to e6 (capture)
- 25. Rb8+ — rook to b8 with check
- Qc8 — queen to c8
- 26. Rxc8+ — rook to c8 (capture) with check
- Kxc8 — king to c8 (capture)
- 27. Qxe8+ — queen to e8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #706.
SP-706 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share this family.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, f2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 439.
The engine's main line opens with Ngf3, bringing the knight out to f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #706Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-706
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