Win the hanging queen on f6 (g6)
li-02V2jnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Hanging piece: your opponent left a piece undefended — take it.
Difficulty 1824 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A hanging piece is one that is attacked and not defended, or defended too few times. Count attackers against defenders on each enemy unit; where attackers win, take it — often with an in-between move or a check to gain the extra tempo.
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, queen f6, rook e7, knight g3, pawn a2 b2 c2 g2 h2 d7.
Black: king g8, queen g6, rook d8, pawn h3 c6 a7 b7 f7 g7.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (23 against 20; 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 g8.
It is Black to move on move 25, with 27 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: d.
The Black king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
25... Qxf6 26. Re8+ Kh7
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f6 keeps the pressure (+7.0).
- Well found: king to h7 (+7.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Re8+, then Kh7 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 25… Qxf6 — queen to f6 (capture)
- 26. Re8+ — rook to e8 with check
- Kh7 — king to h7
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 013
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