Discovered attack: queen to c8
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 1074 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A discovered attack fires when one piece steps aside and unmasks the piece behind it. Look for your own units that block a rook, bishop or queen: moving the front piece — ideally with a threat of its own — springs two attacks in one move.
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 c2, queen c5, pawn f5.
Black: king f8, queen g4, pawn d5 h6 a7 e7 f7.
3 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 44.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (10 against 14; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c2, the black king on f8.
It is White to move on move 44, with 26 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 1 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d, e, h.
The White king has 7 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
44. Qc8+ Kg7 45. f6+ Kxf6 46. Qxg4
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c8 keeps the pressure (+5.1).
- Well found: pawn to f6 (+5.4).
- Strong! queen to g4 is the sharp choice (+5.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg7, then f6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 44. Qc8+ — queen to c8 with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 45. f6+ — pawn to f6 with check
- Kxf6 — king to f6 (capture)
- 46. Qxg4 — queen to g4 (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.
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.
Queen endgame
Queens on an open board — precision above all.
Queen endgames are treacherous: the queen reaches everywhere, and one slip turns a win into perpetual check. The signs are few pawns, exposed kings, and checks hanging in the air. Tuck your king away early, and use your own checks to bring the queen closer or push your passer with tempo. The typical mistake is grabbing pawns while leaving your king exposed to endless checks.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 007
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