Winning blow: rook to f1 (h1·2)
c9-27444naming 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 c2, queen e5, rook d1 h1, knight b3, pawn a2 h2 c3 g4.
Black: king f7, queen g8, rook h8, bishop e7, knight a8, pawn g6 a7 b7 c7 h7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (26 against 25; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c2, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 19, with 54 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): d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
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. Rhf1+ Ke8 20. Qb5+ c6 21. Qxb7 Qxb3+ 22. axb3
Why it works
- Best move. rook to f1 is exactly what the engine plays (#5).
- Well found: queen to b5 (#4).
- Precise: queen to b7 is the top choice (#3).
- Best move. pawn to b3 is exactly what the engine plays (#3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Ke8, then Qb5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 19. Rhf1+ — rook to f1 with check
- Ke8 — king to e8
- 20. Qb5+ — queen to b5 with check
- c6 — pawn to c6
- 21. Qxb7 — queen to b7 (capture)
- Qxb3+ — queen to b3 (capture) with check
- 22. axb3 — pawn to b3 (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 #70.
SP-70 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and h1, the queen on g1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 886.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Morozov Balance Index: 14 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +40 centipawns for White (depth 51, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #70Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-70
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