Winning blow: queen to h8 (b8·2)
c9-27365naming 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 b2, queen b8, rook d2, knight d5, pawn h2 e4 a5 f5.
Black: king f7, queen f1, rook d7 h8, knight h7, pawn b5 g5 h5 d6 f6.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 6 points of material (21 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b2, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 35, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, d, g.
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
35. Qxh8 Nf8 36. Qxf6+ Kg8 37. Ne7+ Rxe7 38. Qxe7
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h8 keeps the pressure (+6.1).
- Well found: queen to f6 (+6.4).
- Strong! knight to e7 is the sharp choice (+6.5).
- Best move. queen to e7 is exactly what the engine plays (+6.3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Nf8, then Qxf6+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 35. Qxh8 — queen to h8 (capture)
- Nf8 — knight to f8
- 36. Qxf6+ — queen to f6 (capture) with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 37. Ne7+ — knight to e7 with check
- Rxe7 — rook to e7 (capture)
- 38. Qxe7 — queen to e7 (capture)
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.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #744.
SP-744 · BastionGuard — King off-centre on c or f with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and h1, the queen on g1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: e2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 413.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 10 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +43 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #744Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-744
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads