Mate in 2: queen to h4 (h3)
c9-27502naming 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.
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1440 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.
Mate in two usually opens with a forcing move — a check, a capture or an unstoppable threat — that strips the king of squares or defenders, so the follow-up mate becomes unavoidable. Look for the first move that leaves the opponent only losing replies.
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 f1, queen h3, rook b1 g1, bishop b3, knight e3, pawn a2 d2 e2 f4 c5.
Black: king e7, queen c8, rook b5, bishop a5, pawn b4 f5 c6 d7 h7.
11 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 8 points of material (30 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on e7.
It is White to move on move 24, with 46 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, h.
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
24. Qh4+ Kf8 25. Rg8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h4 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Spot on — rook to g8 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kf8, then Rg8# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 24. Qh4+ — queen to h4 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 25. Rg8# — rook to g8 and it is checkmate
Types in this puzzle
Mate in 2
A forced checkmate in two moves.
Mate in two: your move, any reply, then the mating blow. Start with the most forcing first moves — checks and sacrifices that shrink the opponent's options to almost nothing. Against every single reply you must have a mate ready, so check them all without exception. The common failure is analyzing the pretty defense and forgetting the boring one.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #785.
SP-785 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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 a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 171.
The engine's main line opens with b4.
Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #785Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-785
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