Winning blow: knight to c4 (e5·2)
c9-27763naming 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 g1, queen b2, rook a1 f1, bishop h1, knight c5 e5, pawn f2 g2 h2 b4 a5.
Black: king e8, queen f6, rook a8 h8, bishop d5, knight c4, pawn g6 a7 b7 c7 e7 f7 h7.
12 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (33 against 32; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on e8.
It is White to move on move 19, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, e.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
19. Nxc4 Bxc4 20. Qxf6 exf6 21. Rfe1+ Kf8 22. Nxb7
Why it works
- Great move! knight to c4 keeps the pressure (+5.3).
- Spot on — queen to f6 (+5.2).
- Precise: rook to e1 is the top choice (+4.9).
- Best move. knight to b7 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.9).
- You reach a winning position (+4.9).
- If instead Bxc4, then Qxf6 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 19. Nxc4 — knight to c4 (capture)
- Bxc4 — bishop to c4 (capture)
- 20. Qxf6 — queen to f6 (capture)
- exf6 — pawn to f6 (capture)
- 21. Rfe1+ — rook to e1 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 22. Nxb7 — knight to b7 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
Overload
One defender guards two things — it cannot do both jobs.
Overloading exploits a defender with two jobs at once — guarding a piece and covering a mating square, for instance. It cannot do both: your first strike forces it to handle one duty and abandon the other. Find the overworked piece by asking what happens to each of its charges if it gets distracted. Then hit one target and collect the other — an overloaded defender only pretends to defend.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #603.
SP-603 · ThroneGuard — Both knights start on inner files (b–g) while the king sits centrally on d or e — one of 204 positions filed here.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 to g1.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 257.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #603Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-603
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