Rescue the bishop to b6
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The tactical motive
Save the piece: one of your pieces is attacked — find the best way to rescue it.
Difficulty 1954 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Here the task is defensive: one of your pieces is under attack and must be rescued without losing more. Look for a move that saves it with tempo — a counter-check, an equal counter-attack or an interposition — rather than a passive retreat.
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 d4, bishop e3, pawn f4 h4 g5 b6.
Black: king c6, bishop d8, pawn f5 g6 h7.
6 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 42.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (7 against 6; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d4, the black king on c6.
It is Black to move on move 42, with 12 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: b.
The Black king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
42... Bxb6+ 43. Kd3 Bxe3 44. Kxe3 Kc5
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to b6 keeps the pressure (+6.1).
- Well found: bishop to e3 (+6.8).
- Strong! king to c5 is the sharp choice (+6.4).
- You win decisive material (+6.4).
- If instead Kd3, then Bxe3 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 42… Bxb6+ — bishop to b6 (capture) with check
- 43. Kd3 — king to d3
- Bxe3 — bishop to e3 (capture)
- 44. Kxe3 — king to e3 (capture)
- Kc5 — king to c5
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Minor-piece endgame
Bishops and knights duel — geometry decides.
A minor-piece endgame leaves only bishops and knights with pawns, and geometry decides. The bishop loves an open board and play on both wings; the knight loves fixed pawns and outpost squares. Check which color squares the pawns stand on and where the knight can actually reach in time. Practical tip: against a knight, spread the play across both flanks — short legs cannot cover everything.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 014
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