Ten puzzles follow below. They start off easy, but ramp up in difficulty as you move forward.
Test your wits and see how far you can get! I will post the answers at the end of March.
1
White to move and mate in 1.
2
White to move and win.
3
Black to move and win.
4
With best play, does black win or is this position a draw? Assume black to move.
5
What is the fewest number of moves it takes for white to force mate?
6
Suppose from the starting position, white can make eight pawn moves in a row, but they all have to be with the SAME pawn. You must still keep moving the "pawn" even after you've promoted it. Given these constraints, find the only way for white to deliver mate on the eighth move without playing a single check until the final checkmate.
7
Find the best continuation for black.
8
Black to move and win.
9
White to move and win.
10
White to move and mate in three.
Solutions:
ReplyDelete1) Qg7#
2) 1.Re8+! Bf8 2.Rxf8+ Rxf8 3.Qxb2
3) 1. ... Qxc3! 2.Qxc3 (or 2.Bxf4 Qd4+ and 3. ... Qxf4) 2. ... Ne2+ 3.Kh2 Nxc3
4) Draw. With the black king cut off, white has a classic fortress with two bishops vs. queen.
5) Eight. 1.Kf5 Kg7 2.h8=Q+! Kxh8 3.Kf6 Kg8 4.g7 Kh7 5.Kf7 Kh6 6.g8=Q Kh5 7.Qg3 Kh6 8.Qg6#
6) 1.d4 2.d5 3.d6 4.dxc7 5.cxb8=R 6.Rxb7 7.Rxd7 8.Rxd8#
7) 1. ... Qa4! and suddenly there is no good answer to the threat of Nb3+. After 2.g6 Nb3+ 3.Qxb3 Bxb3 4.Nxb3 Qe8!, there is still some work to be done but black has excellent winning chances.
8) 1. ... Rxe4 2.Bxe4 Qe8 3.Bf3 Qe3+ 4.Kf1 Bf8! The point. The queen can no longer guard the c4 square. 5.Qe5 Bc4+ 6.Be2 Bxe2+ 7.Ke1 Qxe5 and wins.
9) 1.Ree5!! dxe5 2.Rf2! and amazingly, black's queen is dominated. The unstoppable threat is Rh2-Rg2 winning the queen, and then a4-a5 creates a winning passed pawn for white. For example: 2. ... Qg5 3.Rh2+ Kg6 4.Rg2 Qxg2+ 5.Kxg2 Kf7 6.a5 bxa5 7.b6 Ke6 8.b7 and the pawn cannot be stopped
10) 1.Qb2! Kd7 2.Qe5! Kc6 (or 2. ... Kc8 3.Qc7#) 3.Qd5#