Winning blow: bishop to h6 (e3·6)
c9-27349naming 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 f1, queen e2, rook a1 h1, bishop c2 e3, pawn b2 g2 a3 c3 e4 f5.
Black: king g7, queen c6, rook a8 h8, bishop b3 c7, pawn c5 b6 f6 a7 e7 h7.
12 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 31 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on f1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 19, with 46 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): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: h.
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
19. Bh6+ Kf7 20. Qh5+ Kg8 21. Bxb3+
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to h6 keeps the pressure (#7).
- Well found: queen to h5 (#6).
- Precise: bishop to b3 is the top choice (#5).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Kf7, then Qh5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Bh6+ — bishop to h6 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 20. Qh5+ — queen to h5 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 21. Bxb3+ — bishop to b3 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
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 #516.
SP-516 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on f1, 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 b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on g2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 542.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #516Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 009 · SP-516
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