Winning blow: pawn to f6 (g5·14)
c9-27467naming 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 b4, rook f1 b5, pawn a2 c2 e2 h2 d3 a5 g5.
Black: king e8, queen a7, rook c8, bishop c6 f6, knight f2 f8, pawn e5 g6 c7 f7 h7.
11 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (26 against 31; 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 e8.
It is White to move on move 20, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. gxf6 Nxd3+ 21. exd3 Qe3+ 22. Kb1 Qc1+ 23. Rxc1
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to f6 keeps the pressure (#4).
- Spot on — pawn to d3 (#3).
- Strong! king to b1 is the sharp choice (#2).
- Best move. rook to c1 is exactly what the engine plays (#1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Nxd3+, then exd3 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 20. gxf6 — pawn to f6 (capture)
- Nxd3+ — knight to d3 (capture) with check
- 21. exd3 — pawn to d3 (capture)
- Qe3+ — queen to e3 with check
- 22. Kb1 — king to b1
- Qc1+ — queen to c1 with check
- 23. Rxc1 — rook to c1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
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 #871.
SP-871 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on a1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 82.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 43 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +28 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #871Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-871
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