Winning blow: queen to e1 (h4)
c9-27656naming 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 f1, queen h4, rook h1, bishop c4, knight b3 c5, pawn g2 h2.
Black: king h8, queen a3, rook e8 f8, bishop e1, pawn e3 f4 b7 c7 h7.
8 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 2 points of material (25 against 27; 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 h8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, c, e, f.
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
25. Qxe1 Qb2 26. O-O f3 27. Rxf3 Rxf3 28. gxf3
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e1 keeps the pressure (+2.4).
- king to g1 develops smoothly.
- Strong! rook to f3 is the sharp choice (+2.4).
- Great move! pawn to f3 keeps the pressure (+2.3).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qb2, then O-O and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 25. Qxe1 — queen to e1 (capture)
- Qb2 — queen to b2
- 26. O-O — king to h1
- f3 — pawn to f3
- 27. Rxf3 — rook to f3 (capture)
- Rxf3 — rook to f3 (capture)
- 28. gxf3 — pawn to f3 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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 #69.
SP-69 · BastionScout — Off-centre king plus a rim knight (a/h): 168 positions carry this shape.
The king starts on f1, the rooks on e1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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.
The bishops stand on c1 and d1; their long diagonals reach h6 and h5 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the BastionScout family; read right to left it becomes position 890.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #69Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-69
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