Winning blow: king to d4
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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 1390 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 c4, pawn g3 b4 g5.
Black: king c6, pawn b5 f7.
4 white and 3 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 34.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (3 against 2; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c4, the black king on c6.
It is White to move on move 34, with 4 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle. White are in check right now, so every reply must answer the check.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, d, e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: 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
34. Kd4 Kd6 35. g4 Ke7 36. Kc5 Kf8 37. Kxb5
Why it works
- Great move! king to d4 keeps the pressure (+7.0).
- pawn to g4 develops smoothly.
- Precise: king to c5 is the top choice (+5.1).
- Best move. king to b5 is exactly what the engine plays (+5.5).
- You win decisive material (+5.5).
- If instead Kd6, then g4 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 34. Kd4 — king to d4
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 35. g4 — pawn to g4
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 36. Kc5 — king to c5
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 37. Kxb5 — king to b5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
Pawn endgame
Kings and pawns only — every tempo is worth gold.
In a pawn endgame only kings and pawns remain, and everything is calculated to the very end: opposition, the rule of the square, spare tempi. It is easy to recognize but must be entered deliberately — trading the last pieces is irreversible. Before you exchange, evaluate the resulting pawn ending in advance: is it actually won? A typical mistake is chasing enemy pawns with your king when you should be racing to promote your own.
King evacuation
The king walks out of the danger zone on its own feet.
King evacuation: when the shelter collapses, the king walks out of the attack on his own feet — sometimes across half the board. A series of precise king moves carries him out of the firing zone, and the enemy attack dissolves. The signs: no direct defense works, but there is a route over unattacked squares to a quiet corner. Calculate the entire journey in advance — a king stranded halfway usually dies there.
About this position
These pieces come from starting position #314.
SP-314 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
The king starts on d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 357.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +46 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #314Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 010 · SP-314
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