Winning blow: queen to g8 (h7·7)
c9-27130naming 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 1290 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 f3, queen h7, rook h6, knight f5, pawn b2 a3 d3 c4 e4 f4.
Black: king d7, queen f6, rook g6 g8, pawn b3 d4 c5 b6 f7.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (23 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 f3, the black king on d7.
It is White to move on move 33, with 22 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
33. Qxg8 Rxh6 34. Nxh6 Qxh6 35. Qxf7+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g8 keeps the pressure (+4.0).
- Well found: knight to h6 (+4.8).
- Strong! queen to f7 is the sharp choice (+5.4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rxh6, then Nxh6 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 33. Qxg8 — queen to g8 (capture)
- Rxh6 — rook to h6 (capture)
- 34. Nxh6 — knight to h6 (capture)
- Qxh6 — queen to h6 (capture)
- 35. Qxf7+ — queen to f7 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #422.
SP-422 · RampartGuard — A b- or g-file king and two knights on inner files (b–g).
The king starts on g1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on d1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on f2 is defended by the king alone — the classic soft spot of the standard setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 726.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #422Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-422
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