Trap the bishop on c7
li-04779Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Trapped piece: an enemy piece has no safe squares — catch it.
Difficulty 1580 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A trapped piece has no safe square. Spot an enemy piece that has wandered offside or been hemmed in, then play the move that takes away its last escape and wins it — often a quiet pawn push or a covering minor piece.
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 d1, rook a1 f1, bishop e2 f4, knight b5, pawn a2 b2 c2 f2 g2 h2 d4.
Black: king g8, queen b6, rook a8 f8, bishop c8, knight c6 f6, pawn d5 a6 e6 h6 b7 f7 g7.
14 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 13.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 35 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 13, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: e.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
13. Bc7 Qxb5 14. Bxb5
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to c7 keeps the pressure (+3.7).
- Well found: bishop to b5 (+3.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxb5, then Bxb5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 13. Bc7 — bishop to c7
- Qxb5 — queen to b5 (capture)
- 14. Bxb5 — bishop to b5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads