Discovered attack: queen to d4 (g7)
li-0P7SNnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 2320 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 h4, rook a1 f1, bishop g5, knight h7, pawn a2 b2 g2 h2 c4 d5.
Black: king h8, queen g7, rook f7 g8, bishop e7, knight c5, pawn e4 a5 d6 b7 c7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (31 against 30; 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 h8.
It is Black to move on move 21, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: g, h.
The Black king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21... Qd4+ 22. Kh1 Rxh7 23. Bxe7 Rxh4
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d4 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Well found: rook to h7 (+4.4).
- Strong! rook to h4 is the sharp choice (+4.3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kh1, then Rxh7 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 21… Qd4+ — queen to d4 with check
- 22. Kh1 — king to h1
- Rxh7 — rook to h7 (capture)
- 23. Bxe7 — bishop to e7 (capture)
- Rxh4 — rook to h4 (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
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