Winning blow: knight to e7 (g8)
c9-27422naming 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 f4, rook b3, knight d1 g8, pawn b2 d2 c3 a5 h7.
Black: king c8, queen h5, rook a8 h8, bishop e8, pawn d4 e4 a6 c6 h6 b7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (25 against 28; 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 38, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e.
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
38. Ne7+ Kd7 39. Rxb7+ Ke6 40. Ng8 Qxd1+ 41. Kxd1
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e7 keeps the pressure (+8.7).
- Well found: rook to b7 (+9.9).
- Precise: knight to g8 is the top choice (+7.7).
- Best move. king to d1 is exactly what the engine plays (+8.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kd7, then Rxb7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 38. Ne7+ — knight to e7 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 39. Rxb7+ — rook to b7 (capture) with check
- Ke6 — king to e6
- 40. Ng8 — knight to g8
- Qxd1+ — queen to d1 (capture) with check
- 41. Kxd1 — king to d1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #794.
SP-794 · BastionScout — The king starts one file off-centre, on c or f, and a knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from a1 to d1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 165.
The engine's main line opens with e3.
Morozov Balance Index: 0 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +67 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
In 50 self-play games White scored 62.0% (95% CI 48.2–74.1%).
Explore position #794Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-794
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