Win the hanging queen on d6
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The tactical motive
Hanging piece: your opponent left a piece undefended — take it.
Difficulty 1931 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 d1, rook a1 f1, bishop c1 d3, knight e2 d6, pawn a2 b2 f2 g2 h2 c4.
Black: king g8, queen d8, rook a8 f8, bishop f5 g7, knight e7 b8, pawn c5 a6 g6 b7 h7.
14 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 12.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (37 against 36; 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 12, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: f.
The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
12... Qxd6 13. Bxf5 Nxf5 14. Qxd6 Nxd6
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d6 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Well found: knight to f5 (+4.5).
- Strong! knight to d6 is the sharp choice (+4.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxf5, then Nxf5 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 12… Qxd6 — queen to d6 (capture)
- 13. Bxf5 — bishop to f5 (capture)
- Nxf5 — knight to f5 (capture)
- 14. Qxd6 — queen to d6 (capture)
- Nxd6 — knight to d6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 014
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