Discovered attack: queen to g7
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 2065 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
White 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 g3, rook b1 e1, bishop c3, pawn g2 h2 a3 f3 d4 c5.
Black: king f7, queen c6, rook e7 d8, bishop g7, pawn c4 b5 f5 a6 e6 h6.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 28 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 f7.
It is White to move on move 30, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: b, e.
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
30. Qxg7+ Kxg7 31. d5+ Kf7 32. dxc6
Why it works
- Great move! queen to g7 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- Well found: pawn to d5 (+4.6).
- Strong! pawn to c6 is the sharp choice (+4.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxg7, then d5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 30. Qxg7+ — queen to g7 (capture) with check
- Kxg7 — king to g7 (capture)
- 31. d5+ — pawn to d5 with check
- Kf7 — king to f7
- 32. dxc6 — pawn to c6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
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.
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 015
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