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Discovered attack: queen to f2

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Shuffle Rating 1418Theme: Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Black to move — find the best continuation

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The tactical motive

Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.

Difficulty 1418 ShuffleRating — club-player level.

Black to move — find the best continuation

Position on the board

White: king g1, queen f2, rook a1 h3, bishop b3, pawn a2 g2 c3 b4 g4 d6.

Black: king h8, queen e3, rook e8 f8, pawn b5 f5 a6 c7 g7 h7.

11 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.

Solution & explanation

Main line

25... Qxf2+ 26. Kxf2 fxg4+ 27. Kg1 gxh3

Why it works

  • Great move! queen to f2 keeps the pressure (+3.7).
  • Well found: pawn to g4 (+4.0).
  • Strong! pawn to h3 is the sharp choice (+3.7).
  • You win a piece — the queen.
  • If instead Kxf2, then fxg4+ and you stay on top.

Types in this puzzle

Win the pinned piece

The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.

A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.

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.

Simplification

Trade the heavy pieces and steer into a won endgame.

Simplification is how you convert an advantage: by trading queens and rooks you extinguish the counterplay and steer the game into a won endgame. The rule is simple — the side with extra material trades pieces but keeps pawns. Look for exchanges once the material is already won and your opponent is still rattling threats. The mistake is avoiding the queen trade and letting him muddy the water forever.

Provenance

Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).

Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.

Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).

Pack 010

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