Winning blow: rook to c5 (c3·3)
c9-27818naming 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 b1, rook d1 c3, pawn b2 h2 a4 e4.
Black: king b8, queen c5, rook b6, bishop g8, pawn f4 a5 e5 b7 h7.
7 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 8 points of material (14 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 b1, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 30 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: f.
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
29. Rxc5 Bb3 30. Rd8+ Ka7 31. Rf8 Rb4 32. Rxa5+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to c5 keeps the pressure (+3.6).
- Spot on — rook to d8 (+4.5).
- Precise: rook to f8 is the top choice (+3.5).
- Great move! rook to a5 keeps the pressure (+3.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bb3, then Rd8+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 29. Rxc5 — rook to c5 (capture)
- Bb3 — bishop to b3
- 30. Rd8+ — rook to d8 with check
- Ka7 — king to a7
- 31. Rf8 — rook to f8
- Rb4 — rook to b4
- 32. Rxa5+ — rook to a5 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
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 #957.
SP-957 · RampartGuard — King pushed to the b- or g-file, knights off the edges — 144 positions here.
The king starts on b1, the rooks on a1 and c1, 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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on b2 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 8.
The engine's main line opens with a4.
Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #957Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-957
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