Trap the queen on c3
li-0VsqQOpens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Trapped piece: an enemy piece has no safe squares — catch it.
Difficulty 2496 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A trapped piece has no safe square. Spot an enemy piece that has wandered offside or been hemmed in, then play the move that takes away its last escape and wins it — often a quiet pawn push or a covering minor piece.
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 h1, queen d2, rook g1 g5, pawn c2 g2 h4 d5.
Black: king g8, queen a2, rook d8 f8, pawn a7 b7 c7 g7.
8 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 23 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, b.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Qc3 Rf7 24. Ra1 Qxd5 25. Rxd5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c3 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- Well found: rook to a1 (+4.7).
- Strong! rook to d5 is the sharp choice (+4.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rf7, then Ra1 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 23. Qc3 — queen to c3
- Rf7 — rook to f7
- 24. Ra1 — rook to a1
- Qxd5 — queen to d5 (capture)
- 25. Rxd5 — rook to d5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
X-ray
A long-range piece acts through an enemy piece on the same line.
An X-ray lets a long-range piece act through an enemy piece standing on the same line — its power shines straight through. The square behind looks safe or defended, and that illusion is exactly what the tactic exploits. Check your rooks, bishops and queens: is a key square or a target hiding behind an enemy piece on their line? When counting captures on a square, include the X-ray attackers — they join the fight the moment the line opens.
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
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