The Chess Problems Thread

[Kyng]

Here's quite an amusing one, that I got from this video.

White to play, and mate in 1:

Solution

1. Qb3#

If you're wondering about 1...Bxb3, that's actually not a legal move, because the Bishop is pinned by the Rook on h8 !

[Kyng]

Here's another one, that might be a bit tougher than the mate in 1 .

White to move, mate in 6:

Spoiler

The key move is 1. Ng5+!

Note that the knight can't be taken: 1... hxg5 loses to 2. Rh3+ Nh5 3. Rxh5#. So, Black has no choice but to retreat with 1... Kh8 2. Nxf7+ Kh7. At this point, it's tempting to play 3. Nxd8, after which White wins easily. But there is a move that's better still...

Instead of taking the queen, White plays 3. Qg5!!, threatening 4. Qg6#. Once again, the queen can't be taken: 3... hxg5 loses to 4. Rh3+ Nh5 5. Rxh5# (as before) - and 3... g6 loses immediately to 4. Qxh6#. Black's best hope is 3... Bxf5, after which White mates with 4. exf5! hxg5 5. Rh3+ Nh5 6. Rxh5#.

If you solved this, then you're better than me: I saw that 1. Ng5+ would win Black's queen, but then didn't see the queen sacrifice and the mate that followed .

[Kyng]

Here's a mate in 2 that I managed to solve, but I did have to think about it for a while:



If you don't want to watch the video, here's the solution:

Solution

The key is 1. Kg2!!, which places Black in zugzwang. The Black rook, bishop and pawn are all stopping various different mates - but one of them has to move away:

If 1... hxg6, then 2. Rh3#. This was the point of moving the king off the 3rd rank: it clears the way for that rook.
If 1... h6, then 2. Rxh6#, because the g7-bishop is pinned. Likewise, if 1... h5, then 2. Rh6#.

Any bishop move loses to 2. Rxg8#, and any rook move is met by 2. Bxg7#.

(Note that 1. Kg2 is the only king move that allows a mate in two. If 1. Kg4, then 1... h5+; and if 1. Kh2, then 1... Be5+, and White must alleviate the check before mating)

[Kyng]

Another one, that's quite similar to the previous mate in 2:

Solution

1. Qe4!! sets up six different mates, so now it's up to Black to pick their poison:

• If 1... b6 or 1... b5, then 2. Qa8#;
  
• If 1... d6 or 1... d5, then 2. Qxe6#;
  
• If 1... e5 then 2. Qd5#;
  
• If 1... f2 then 2. Qg2#;
  
• If 1... h4 then 2. Qg4#;
  
• If 1... h6 then 2. Qg6#. This is really the key to the entire puzzle: finding a good counter to 1... h6, which stops most of the other obvious attempts (like 1. Qa4 with the threat of 2. Qa8#).

I think these are my favourite kinds of chess puzzles: the ones where the key is a 'quiet' move which places the opponent in zugzwang . They're quite satisfying to solve !

[Kyng]

Here's another one from one of my actual games:



Black has just played 1...Ne3, threatening the rook on f1. If White captures the knight with 2. fxe3, then Black will simply respond with 2...Qxe3+, forking the king and the unprotected knight on c3. So, what is White's best way out of this mess?

Solution

The solution is for White to play 2. Na4!

This moves the knight off the c3-square - and also attacks the queen. The best retreat is 2... Qa7, after which White can safely take the knight with 3. fxe3. After this, Black can still follow up with 3...Qxe3+, but there's no knight to capture on c3 any more - so Black is simply down a knight for a pawn.

(And no, I didn't spot this in the actual game !!! I still won the game, but this would've been a cleaner way to win )

[Kyng]

Now for another one from one of my actual games - except, this time, I did spot it .

Black to move, mate in 4:

Spoiler

I played 1...Rxb3!!, sacrificing my rook so that I could completely swarm the black king.

The game continued with 2. Nxb3 Qxb3+ 3. Ka1 Qa4+, and then my opponent resigned because their only move was 4. Qa3, which would be met by 4...Qxa3#.

There is, by the way, another line: if White instead plays 2. Nc4 (to cover the a3-square), then Black can respond with 2...Qxc4, after which White can no longer stop 3...Qa4+ 4. Qa3 Qxa3# (except by 3. Qa3, which leads to 3...Rxa3+ 4. Kxa3 Qb3#).

Quite proud of myself for spotting this in an actual game !

[Kyng]

Okay, if you find yourself blundering a lot, this might be the problem for you .

White to play and throw away the win:



White can deliver an immediate checkmate in 51 different ways - but they also have four moves that lose all advantage, and allow Black to draw the game . Can you find them?

[Kyng]

Another one from one of my actual games.

What is White's best move in the following position?

Solution

The best move is 1. Nxf6+!



It looks a little crazy, because that knight can be taken in four different ways . But, none of them works:

• If 1...Bxf6 or 1...gxf6, then White just takes the queen with 2. Qxf5;
  
• If 1...Qxf6, then White again takes the queen with 2. Bxf6;
  
• The least bad option for Black is 1...Rxf6, after which 2. Qxf5 Rxf5 3. Rxe7 leaves White a pawn up, but with much better-placed pieces (Stockfish evaluates the resulting position as +4.3 for White)

I found that move, and went on to win the game. Quite pleased with that !

[Kyng]

In this one, you get to play against me !

This is a position from one of my recent games, where I was playing as White:



I had just played 1. Bxg6?, capturing a pawn - and thinking that, if my opponent took my bishop, then I'd following up with 2. Rxd6, capturing their bishop. So, how did my opponent get out of trouble?

Spoiler

They played 1...Bxh2+!!



This got their bishop out of the way of my rook - and took one of my pawns at the same time . Because it was check, I was forced to re-capture with 2. Nxh2, after which they took my bishop.

This was the turning point of the game, which my opponent eventually went on to win. And all I can say is, well done to them !

[Kyng]

This one's not difficult, but it is quite amusing .

White to play, mate in 1:

Spoiler

On this oversized chess board, I guess the winning move would be represented as 1. c8# .

(The other three legal moves are 1. cxd8, 1. bxa9, and 1. bxc9... the latter two of those look really wrong to me, since the rows of a chess board usually stop at 8 !)