Winning blow: knight to g2 (f4)
c9-27194naming 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 1340 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 a1 h1, knight f4, pawn a2 d2 f2 b3 c3 e4.
Black: king e8, rook h6 a8, knight h4, pawn a5 b6 e6 f6 c7 d7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 19 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 20, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. Ng2 Nxg2 21. Rxh6
Why it works
- Great move! knight to g2 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- Well found: rook to h6 (+4.5).
- You reach a winning position (+4.5).
- If instead Nxg2, then Rxh6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 20. Ng2 — knight to g2
- Nxg2 — knight to g2 (capture)
- 21. Rxh6 — rook to h6 (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?
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #467.
SP-467 · 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 f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: c2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 675.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Morozov Balance Index: 99 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +2 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 51.0% (95% CI 37.6–64.3%).
Explore position #467Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-467
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