Rescue the king to d1
li-02FEHOpens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Save the piece: one of your pieces is attacked — find the best way to rescue it.
Difficulty 1758 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Here the task is defensive: one of your pieces is under attack and must be rescued without losing more. Look for a move that saves it with tempo — a counter-check, an equal counter-attack or an interposition — rather than a passive retreat.
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 e1, rook b1, knight e2, pawn g2 h2 d4 e5.
Black: king g8, rook c2, bishop d2, pawn b2 d5 h6 f7 g7.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 39.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (12 against 13; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 39, with 3 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 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, 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
39. Kd1 Rc1+ 40. Nxc1 bxc1=Q+ 41. Rxc1
Why it works
- Great move! king to d1 keeps the pressure (+3.0).
- Well found: knight to c1 (+3.1).
- Strong! rook to c1 is the sharp choice (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rc1+, then Nxc1 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 39. Kd1 — king to d1
- Rc1+ — rook to c1 with check
- 40. Nxc1 — knight to c1 (capture)
- bxc1=Q+ — pawn to c1 (capture) with check
- 41. Rxc1 — rook to c1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
Save the piece
The attacked piece can be saved — with profit.
Saving the piece: one of your pieces is attacked, and the job is not to lose it for nothing. There are several tools: retreat with tempo, defend it, block the attack, or create a bigger counter-threat. Before retreating automatically, look for a retreat that attacks something — you save the piece and gain time in one move. The typical mistake is panicking onto the first available square, where the piece gets trapped again.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 013
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