Discovered attack: queen to e7
li-04ru2Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 1231 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A discovered attack fires when one piece steps aside and unmasks the piece behind it. Look for your own units that block a rook, bishop or queen: moving the front piece — ideally with a threat of its own — springs two attacks in one move.
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 e7, rook d1, pawn f2 h2 g3 d6.
Black: king h8, queen d7, rook d8, pawn b6 h6 a7 g7.
7 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 18 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 h8.
It is Black to move on move 31, with 27 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: d, f.
The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31... Qxe7 32. dxe7 Rxd1+ 33. Kg2 Re1
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e7 keeps the pressure (+6.9).
- Well found: rook to d1 (+7.1).
- Strong! rook to e1 is the sharp choice (+7.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead dxe7, then Rxd1+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 31… Qxe7 — queen to e7 (capture)
- 32. dxe7 — pawn to e7 (capture)
- Rxd1+ — rook to d1 (capture) with check
- 33. Kg2 — king to g2
- Re1 — rook to e1
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.
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 008
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads