Winning blow: pawn to e6 (f5·8)
c9-27457naming 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 d1, queen e2, rook c1 g1, bishop b1 d4, knight f4, pawn a2 d2 g2 h2 e3 f5.
Black: king c8, queen g8, rook d8, bishop b7 b8, knight d6 f8, pawn b4 a5 d5 e5 f6 c7 h7.
13 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (34 against 33; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 17, with 48 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: b, c.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
17. fxe6 Nxe6 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. O-O Rf8 20. Bxh7
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to e6 keeps the pressure (+3.3).
- Spot on — knight to e6 (+3.2).
- A natural move: king to g1.
- Best move. bishop to h7 is exactly what the engine plays (+3.4).
- You reach a winning position (+3.4).
- If instead Nxe6, then Nxe6 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 17. fxe6 — pawn to e6 (capture)
- Nxe6 — knight to e6 (capture)
- 18. Nxe6 — knight to e6 (capture)
- Qxe6 — queen to e6 (capture)
- 19. O-O — king to g1
- Rf8 — rook to f8
- 20. Bxh7 — bishop to h7 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #800.
SP-800 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 159.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #800Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-800
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads