Winning blow: knight to c6 (e5·20)
c9-27089naming 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 e1, rook h1, bishop g1, knight e5 b7, pawn a2 b2 c2 g2 h2 d4 f4.
Black: king c8, queen c6, rook a8 h8, bishop d1 f8, knight b6, pawn e4 f5 h5 e6 a7 c7 g7.
13 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 14.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (30 against 35; 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 c8.
It is White to move on move 14, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: e.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
14. Nxc6 Kxb7 15. Na5+ Kc8 16. Qf1 Bd6 17. Kxd1
Why it works
- Great move! knight to c6 keeps the pressure (+4.2).
- Spot on — knight to a5 (+4.3).
- Precise: queen to f1 is the top choice (+4.1).
- Best move. king to d1 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxb7, then Na5+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 14. Nxc6 — knight to c6 (capture)
- Kxb7 — king to b7 (capture)
- 15. Na5+ — knight to a5 with check
- Kc8 — king to c8
- 16. Qf1 — queen to f1
- Bd6 — bishop to d6
- 17. Kxd1 — king to d1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
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.
Mate defense
Mate is threatened — parry it and stay on top.
Mate defense: your opponent is one move from mating you — but it is your turn, and that changes everything. Find the defense that kills the mating threat while keeping your advantage: often a check or a counter-threat that leaves no time for the mate. First name the exact square where the mate would land — otherwise you are defending blind. The mistake is playing a "defensive" move that does not actually remove the threat.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #462.
SP-462 · 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 h1, the queen on e1.
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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-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 692.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 91 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +13 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #462Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-462
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