Win the hanging queen on e3
li-07h4WOpens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Hanging piece: your opponent left a piece undefended — take it.
Difficulty 1782 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White 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 b1, queen d2, rook c4, knight d4, pawn a2 b3 f4 h4 g5.
Black: king g8, queen e3, rook d8, bishop f5, pawn d3 b4 a5 g6 f7 h7.
9 white and 10 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 (22 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 39, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
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. Qxe3 d2+ 40. Nxf5 d1=Q+ 41. Rc1
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e3 keeps the pressure (+5.1).
- Well found: knight to f5 (+5.0).
- Strong! rook to c1 is the sharp choice (+5.1).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead d2+, then Nxf5 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 39. Qxe3 — queen to e3 (capture)
- d2+ — pawn to d2 with check
- 40. Nxf5 — knight to f5 (capture)
- d1=Q+ — pawn to d1 with check
- 41. Rc1 — rook to c1
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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