Winning blow: queen to d4 (f2·3)
c9-26963naming 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 e2, queen f2, rook d8, bishop a1, pawn a2 c2 d2 b4 f4.
Black: king f7, queen b1, rook b8, bishop a8, knight c8, pawn b5 e6 a7 c7 d7 g7.
9 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (22 against 26; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e2, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 22, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, 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
22. Qd4 Bf3+ 23. Kf2 Qxa1 24. Qxa1
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d4 keeps the pressure (+6.2).
- Well found: king to f2 (+6.3).
- Precise: queen to a1 is the top choice (+6.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bf3+, then Kf2 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 22. Qd4 — queen to d4
- Bf3+ — bishop to f3 with check
- 23. Kf2 — king to f2
- Qxa1 — queen to a1 (capture)
- 24. Qxa1 — queen to a1 (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 #545.
SP-545 · 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 b1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 507.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Morozov Balance Index: 20 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +37 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #545Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-545
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