Winning blow: knight to f7 (d6·4)
c9-26939naming 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 1390 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 c2, rook e1 h1, bishop e2, knight d6, pawn a2 b2 f2 h2 e3 g4 d5.
Black: king c7, rook b8 h8, knight a8 g8, pawn b5 e5 h5 a6 f6 d7 g7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 18.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 23 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on c2, the black king on c7.
It is White to move on move 18, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 7 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
18. Nf7 Rh7 19. Bd3 g6 20. Bxg6 Rxf7 21. Bxf7
Why it works
- Great move! knight to f7 keeps the pressure (+3.3).
- bishop to d3 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to g6 is the top choice (+3.1).
- Best move. bishop to f7 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.5).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rh7, then Bd3 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 18. Nf7 — knight to f7
- Rh7 — rook to h7
- 19. Bd3 — bishop to d3
- g6 — pawn to g6
- 20. Bxg6 — bishop to g6 (capture)
- Rxf7 — rook to f7 (capture)
- 21. Bxf7 — bishop to f7 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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 #250.
SP-250 · BastionScout — A knight on the a- or h-file, king on c or f — the mirror twin lands here as well.
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.
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: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 613.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 18 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +38 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #250Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-250
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