Win the hanging pawn on f5
li-0HGt4Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Hanging piece: your opponent left a piece undefended — take it.
Difficulty 2577 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 g3, rook b2 f5, bishop c1, pawn a2 a3 c3 d4 e5 f7.
Black: king d7, queen a6, rook e4 f8, pawn c4 d5 b6 e6 a7 g7.
11 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (28 against 25; 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 d7.
It is Black to move on move 24, with 31 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: f.
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
24... exf5 25. Kf2 Rg4 26. e6+ Kxe6
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to f5 keeps the pressure (+2.3).
- Well found: rook to g4 (+2.8).
- Strong! king to e6 is the sharp choice (+3.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kf2, then Rg4 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 24… exf5 — pawn to f5 (capture)
- 25. Kf2 — king to f2
- Rg4 — rook to g4
- 26. e6+ — pawn to e6 with check
- Kxe6 — king to e6 (capture)
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).
Pack 015
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads