Winning blow: rook to h4 (f4)
c9-26991naming 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 d2, rook a1 f4, bishop d4, knight e1 c4, pawn c2 d3 a4.
Black: king h7, queen c6, rook a8, bishop a6, knight d5, pawn a5 e6 g6 c7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (22 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d2, the black king on h7.
It is White to move on move 27, with 40 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): b, f, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, g.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
27. Rh4+ Kg8 28. Rh8+ Kf7 29. Ne5+ Ke7 30. Nxc6+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h4 keeps the pressure (+8.6).
- Well found: rook to h8 (+8.8).
- Strong! knight to e5 is the sharp choice (+8.8).
- Great move! knight to c6 keeps the pressure (+9.0).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg8, then Rh8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 27. Rh4+ — rook to h4 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 28. Rh8+ — rook to h8 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 29. Ne5+ — knight to e5 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 30. Nxc6+ — knight to c6 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
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.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #551.
SP-551 · 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 d1, the rooks on a1 and g1, 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.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 498.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #551Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-551
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