Winning blow: rook to d6 (d1·13)
c9-26913naming 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 c1, queen g2, rook d1 h1, bishop e2, pawn a2 b2 c2 e6.
Black: king e8, queen g7, rook b8 f8, bishop d6, knight a5, pawn b4 c5 a6 g6 h6.
9 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (26 against 30; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 47 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g, h.
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
27. Rxd6 Rf6 28. Rxa6 Qb7 29. Qh2 b3 30. Rxa5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d6 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Spot on — rook to a6 (+4.7).
- Precise: queen to h2 is the top choice (+4.8).
- Best move. rook to a5 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.3).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Rf6, then Rxa6 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 27. Rxd6 — rook to d6 (capture)
- Rf6 — rook to f6
- 28. Rxa6 — rook to a6 (capture)
- Qb7 — queen to b7
- 29. Qh2 — queen to h2
- b3 — pawn to b3
- 30. Rxa5 — rook to a5 (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 #533.
SP-533 · ThroneGuard — King home on d or e, knights kept off the a- and h-files — the family of the standard starting array.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on f1.
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 c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 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 ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 522.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #533Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-533
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