Members enjoy access to all archived content, including thousands of PDFs and hundreds of Ebooks – all free! To join: make a $25 (or more) tax deductible donation to ChessEdu.org and we will send your log in details for one-year access. (It may take up to 72 hours to receive your log in.) In Trial by Tactics you are shown the position just before the tactic occurs and then asked to visualize the winning sequence. Thereby emulating a real game scenario. We intersperse these puzzles with endgame studies and chess problems to explore the broad spectrum of chess creativity. We recommend using Trial by Tactics in conjunction with the ChessEdu.org curriculum. A new puzzle is posted … [Read more...]
Think Like Thorleif Henriksen!
To join: make a $25 (or more) tax deductible donation to ChessEdu.org and we will send your log in details for one-year access. (It may take up to 72 hours to receive your log in.) In Trial by Tactics you are shown the position just before the tactic occurs and then asked to visualize the winning sequence. Thereby emulating a real game scenario. We intersperse these puzzles with endgame studies and chess problems to explore the broad spectrum of chess creativity. We recommend using Trial by Tactics in conjunction with the ChessEdu.org curriculum. A new puzzle is posted daily. Problems are the poetry of chess! [FEN “8/7K/2p5/7R/6p1/2P3P1/6pp/1Q4bk w - - 0 1”] White mates in … [Read more...]
Proof Games: Back to Start
Proof Games: Back to Start By Jeff Coakley The task in a proof game is to show how a given position can be reached in a legal game. The puzzles in this column have a move stipulation. The position must be reached in a precise number of moves, no more and no less. With one exception, they are proof games in 4.0 which means four moves by each side. These games are devoid of any opening strategy. But the moves are legal. Proof Game 42 This position, with White to play, was reached in a game after each player made exactly four moves. Can you figure out how? Proof Game 43 This position was reached after Black’s fourth turn. What were the moves? The next … [Read more...]
Queenfest IV: Breaking Free
Queenfest IV: Breaking Free By Jeff Coakley Continuing from past columns, we present several new puzzles involving multiple queens. The task is to arrange the queens on the board to achieve certain goals. For the first puzzle, an ‘edge square’ is defined as any square along the side of the board (a- or h-file, 1st or 8th rank). Queenfest #11(four queens) Place four queens on the board so that … 11a. all edge squares are attacked except the four corners. 11b. the most edge squares are attacked, without placing any queen on the edge. 11c. all squares on both long diagonals are attacked, without placing any queen on a long diagonal. Earlier Queenfests can be found in … [Read more...]
The Opposition Strikes Again!
The Opposition Strikes Again! By Bruce Pandolfini "The opposition: what's that, the opponent?" How often I've heard students say something like that. Yet many experienced players use "the opposition" to mean something else. They use it to indicate a relationship between the two kings, especially in the endgame. If you "have the opposition," it's essentially the same thing as saying you have the advantage. For the most part, if on the same rank, file or diagonal, the kings "stand in opposition" if they (a) are on squares of the same color and (b) are separated by an odd number of squares. (This is not the place to bring up "the rectangular opposition," "the knight's jump opposition," or … [Read more...]
The Five Coin Dudeney
The Five Coin Dudeney by Jeff Coakley Get out your lucky pennies. It's Friday the 13th! And time for round two of artist appreciation month, featuring four more puzzles by the great Henry Dudeney. Plus a couple Cafe originals. "It is extraordinary what fascination a good puzzle has for a great many people. We know the thing to be of trivial importance, yet we are impelled to master it, and when we have succeeded there is a pleasure and a sense of satisfaction that are a quite sufficient reward for our trouble, even when there is no prize to be won. What is this mysterious charm that many find irresistible? Why do we like to be puzzled? The curious thing is that directly the enigma … [Read more...]
Chess Mazes #380
Chess Mazes #380 There are two types of chess mazes: checking and mating. For bishop, rook, and knight mazes the play is to check the black king. For queen, pawn, and king mazes the object is to checkmate the enemy king; here checks are not allowed. The rules in common for each type of maze are as follows: Black never moves. Only the maze piece (in the case of pawns – the maze units) may move. A maze piece may never move to a square where it can be captured by enemy forces. A maze piece may capture undefended enemy forces. Plus we look for the shortest solution. Helpers in queen and king mazes are frozen to the diagram position, unable to move or be removed. In pawn mazes … [Read more...]
The Dude Abides
The Dude Abides by Jeff Coakley February is artist appreciation month at the Cafe gallery. Currently on display is a selection of fine work by one of the great puzzle masters of all time, Henry Dudeney. ...Our lives are largely spent in solving puzzles; for what is a puzzle but a perplexing question? And from our childhood upwards we are perpetually asking questions or trying to answer them." Henry Ernest Dudeney (1857-1930) worked most of his life as a civil servant in Sussex, England. But he made his mark on the world as a mathematician and composer of puzzles. His early creations were published in various newspapers under the pseudonym "Sphinx". He also collaborated for … [Read more...]
Alekhine’s Whammy
Alekhine's Whammy by Jeff Coakley Besides a full round of double whammies, this column features a detailed analysis of Fortis-Alekhine 1925, the most famous game of Marseillais Chess ever played. "Double whammy" is another name for a series-mate in two. These are the special instructions. a) White plays two moves in a row to mate Black. b) The first move may not be check. c) Either move may be a capture. d) Both moves may be with the same piece. e) Black does not get a turn. f) White may not place their own king in check on the first move, even if they get out of check with the second move. If you haven't experienced the whammy before, here are a couple easy ones to get you … [Read more...]
Smorgasbord VI: Winter Games
Smorgasbord VI: Winter Games Another year behind us. The future just around the bend. Like a downhill racer, time keeps speeding by. And along the way, a few idle moments at the Chess Cafe. This smorgasbord features our usual fare: a varied selection of puzzles for your amusement and solving pleasure. Plus some random facts about my favourite "winter game". 1. Triple Loyd 41 Place the black king on the board so that: A. Black is in checkmate. B. Black is in stalemate. C. White has mate in one. Bobsleds originated in Switzerland during the 1860s. They were constructed by connecting two sleds and adding a steering mechanism. 2. Proof Game 41 (4.0 moves) This … [Read more...]