Mate in 2: knight to f6 (h5·4)
c9-26782naming tag (square·N)The tactical motive
Chess960 twist: use the unusual starting setup of the pieces.
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
A fork made possible by the Chess960 piece placement.
Difficulty 1450 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king g1, queen f7, rook f5, bishop a1, knight d1 h5, pawn a2 c2 g3 e4 h4 e6.
Black: king h7, queen b5, rook b8 g8, bishop e7 a8, knight e3, pawn d6 b7 c7 g7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. Qh5#
Why it works
- Best move. knight to f6 is exactly what the engine plays (#1).
- Spot on — queen to h5 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Bxf6, then Qh5# and it is mate.
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 2
A forced checkmate in two moves.
Mate in two: your move, any reply, then the mating blow. Start with the most forcing first moves — checks and sacrifices that shrink the opponent's options to almost nothing. Against every single reply you must have a mate ready, so check them all without exception. The common failure is analyzing the pretty defense and forgetting the boring one.
Setup fork
The random setup allows a fork that classical chess never sees.
A setup fork is a double attack that exists only because of the unusual starting squares — in classical chess these targets never stand side by side. Look for pairs of undefended pieces on your opponent's back rank and for squares from which a knight or pawn hits both at once. Such forks usually appear within the first moves, before the pieces disperse. In every new position, note right away which starting pieces are defended by no one.
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #434.
SP-434 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on e1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 711.
The engine's main line opens with h4.
Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #434Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-434
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