Mate in 2: bishop to e5 (f6)
c9-27959naming 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.
Mate in 2: the first move creates an unstoppable threat, the second delivers mate.
Difficulty 1220 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.
Mate in two usually opens with a forcing move — a check, a capture or an unstoppable threat — that strips the king of squares or defenders, so the follow-up mate becomes unavoidable. Look for the first move that leaves the opponent only losing replies.
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, rook b7, bishop f6, knight c5 d6, pawn f2 h2.
Black: king d8, rook e8, bishop g7, knight e5 e7, pawn d5 g5 e6 g6 f7.
7 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (16 against 19; 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 d8.
It is White to move on move 31, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, e, g.
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
31. Bxe5 Bh8 32. Rd7#
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to e5 keeps the pressure (#1).
- Spot on — rook to d7 (#).
- The line ends in a forced mate in 2.
- If instead Bh8, then Rd7# and it is mate.
Move by move
- 31. Bxe5 — bishop to e5 (capture)
- Bh8 — bishop to h8
- 32. Rd7# — rook to d7 and it is checkmate
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 #211.
SP-211 · ThroneGuard — A central king (d or e) and two knights tucked onto inner files: the family that holds the standard array, SP-518.
The king starts on e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on c1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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 643.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced. Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
Explore position #211Provenance
Mined from the project's engine self-play games.
Pack 008 · SP-211
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