Winning blow: knight to e4 (c3·6)
c9-27766naming 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 e1, queen h3, rook c1 f1, bishop a1 c2, knight g1 c3, pawn a2 d2 f2 e3 c4 g4 b5 h5.
Black: king c8, queen h7, rook d8 g8, bishop e4 e7, knight f6 b8, pawn g5 b6 e6 h6 a7 c7 d7 f7.
16 white and 16 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 11.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 39 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 11, with 33 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 8. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
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
11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. f3 Ba3 13. Rb1 d5 14. fxe4
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e4 keeps the pressure (+4.8).
- Well found: pawn to f3 (+4.9).
- A natural move: rook to b1.
- Best move. pawn to e4 is exactly what the engine plays (+4.1).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Nxe4, then f3 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 11. Nxe4 — knight to e4 (capture)
- Nxe4 — knight to e4 (capture)
- 12. f3 — pawn to f3
- Ba3 — bishop to a3
- 13. Rb1 — rook to b1
- d5 — pawn to d5
- 14. fxe4 — pawn to e4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
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.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #369.
SP-369 · 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 e1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
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 ThroneGuard family; read right to left it becomes position 299.
The engine's main line opens with g4.
Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #369Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-369
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads