Mate in 2: queen to a7 (a5·6)
c9-27708naming tag (square·N)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 1450 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
Position on the board
White: king b1, queen a5, bishop b6, knight f8, pawn c2 d2 h2 g3 f4.
Black: king b8, queen c4, bishop f6, knight d8, pawn d5 f5 h5 g6 b7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
Solution & explanation
Main line
29. Qa7+ Kc8 30. Qa8#
Why it works
- Great move! queen to a7 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Well found: queen to a8 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Kc8, then Qa8# and it is mate.
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 #858.
SP-858 · RampartGuard — King on the wing (b/g) with both knights on inner files.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and d1, the queen on h1.
From b1 the king makes the longest journey Chess960 allows when castling short: five squares to g1.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2, c2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the RampartGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 101.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #858Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 011 · SP-858
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