Attack on the uncastled king: king to f2 (g1·11)
c9-27435naming 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.
Uncastled king: the enemy king is stuck in the centre — punish it before it castles.
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.
An uncastled king in the centre is a standing target. Look for ways to open the central files and diagonals against it with checks and threats before it can shelter — every tempo the king spends in the middle is a chance for a combination.
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 g1, queen b1, rook d1 h1, bishop d2 b5, knight c1 c2, pawn a2 b2 g2 h2 c3 f5.
Black: king g8, queen b8, rook d8 h8, bishop f2 e8, knight a8 c8, pawn e6 a7 d7 g7 h7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 9.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (37 against 36; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 9, with 2 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: d, 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
9. Kxf2 Qxb5 10. Nd4 Qb6 11. Bg5 e5 12. Bxd8
Why it works
- Great move! king to f2 keeps the pressure (+2.5).
- knight to d4 develops smoothly.
- Precise: bishop to g5 is the top choice (+2.3).
- Brilliant! The bishop on d8 is a sacrifice that works — you stand better (+2.8).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qxb5, then Nd4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 9. Kxf2 — king to f2 (capture)
- Qxb5 — queen to b5 (capture)
- 10. Nd4 — knight to d4
- Qb6 — queen to b6
- 11. Bg5 — bishop to g5
- e5 — pawn to e5
- 12. Bxd8 — bishop to d8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
First-rank tactic
Pieces still on their starting rank become targets of a first-rank strike.
The first-rank tactic: enemy pieces that never left their starting rank become targets themselves. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they block each other and are often defended by nobody. Look for a strike along the first or eighth rank — a rook or queen that breaks through harvests the undeveloped pieces. The mistake is treating the back rank as a safe "rear area": in Chess960 it can be the most vulnerable place on the board.
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #26.
SP-26 · RampartScout — The king starts on b or g while a knight begins on the a- or h-file — the smallest family.
The king starts on g1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on b1.
The king already stands on its castled square, so castling short moves only the rook, from h1 to f1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the RampartScout family; read right to left it becomes position 933.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #26Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-26
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