Winning blow: queen to c5 (d6·2)
c9-26784naming 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 a1, queen d6, bishop f1, pawn b2 a3 e6.
Black: king b7, queen c5, rook b4 h8, pawn d3 e4 g4 g5.
6 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (15 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on a1, the black king on b7.
It is White to move on move 35, with 27 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): c, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, g.
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
35. Qxc5 Rb6 36. Qd5+ Kb8 37. Bg2 Rc8 38. Bxe4
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c5 keeps the pressure (+5.1).
- Spot on — queen to d5 (+5.9).
- A natural move: bishop to g2.
- Best move. bishop to e4 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rb6, then Qd5+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 35. Qxc5 — queen to c5 (capture)
- Rb6 — rook to b6
- 36. Qd5+ — queen to d5 with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 37. Bg2 — bishop to g2
- Rc8 — rook to c8
- 38. Bxe4 — bishop to e4 (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.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #474.
SP-474 · ThroneGuard — King on a central file (d/e) with both knights on inner files — the classic-type setup.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 677.
The engine's main line opens with Nc3, bringing the knight out to c3.
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 #474Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-474
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