Winning blow: pawn to c6 (c5·4)
c9-26707naming 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 1250 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 g7, rook d1, bishop g2, knight b3, pawn a2 b2 e2 f2 c5.
Black: king c8, queen b8, rook e8, bishop d7 e7, knight c7, pawn g4 b6 e6 a7 h7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (25 against 28; 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 c8.
It is White to move on move 19, with 47 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): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g, h.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
19. c6 Bxc6 20. Bxc6 Nd5 21. Rxd5
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to c6 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Well found: bishop to c6 (+4.2).
- Precise: rook to d5 is the top choice (+4.5).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Bxc6, then Bxc6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. c6 — pawn to c6
- Bxc6 — bishop to c6 (capture)
- 20. Bxc6 — bishop to c6 (capture)
- Nd5 — knight to d5
- 21. Rxd5 — rook to d5 (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.
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 #218.
SP-218 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 645.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #218Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-218
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