Winning blow: pawn to c6 (b5·12)
c9-27493naming 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 1700 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 b2, rook a1 a5, knight g1, pawn c2 d2 f2 b3 b5.
Black: king b8, rook f6 d8, bishop h3, knight d6 g6, pawn c6 c7 f7 h7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 5 points of material (18 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b2, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 22, with 31 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, e, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: h.
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
22. bxc6 Nc4+ 23. bxc4 Rxc6 24. Ra8+ Kb7 25. Rxd8
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to c6 keeps the pressure (+3.6).
- Well found: pawn to c4 (+3.8).
- Strong! rook to a8 is the sharp choice (+3.9).
- Great move! rook to d8 keeps the pressure (+3.9).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Nc4+, then bxc4 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 22. bxc6 — pawn to c6 (capture)
- Nc4+ — knight to c4 with check
- 23. bxc4 — pawn to c4 (capture)
- Rxc6 — rook to c6 (capture)
- 24. Ra8+ — rook to a8 with check
- Kb7 — king to b7
- 25. Rxd8 — rook to d8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
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 #946.
SP-946 · BastionGuard — Both knights begin inside the board while the king stands on c or f; a position and its mirror twin share this family.
The king starts on c1, the rooks on b1 and d1, the queen on h1.
The king already stands on c1, so castling long moves only the rook, from b1 to d1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, f2.
The setup belongs to the BastionGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 7.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #946Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 013 · SP-946
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