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Black to Play
Here’s a position from the 2026 FIDE Men’s Candidates Tournament. Giri, as Black stuns Caruana with a mating attack.
View solutionPetals Around the Rose
You roll five dice. The computer calculates the score. Your job is to find out what the computer based the score on.
If you roll 5, 4, 6, 3, and 5, the score is 10.
If you roll 1, 3, 3, 4, and 2, the score is 4.
If you roll 1, 6, 2, 6, and 4,the score is 0.
What is the method?
View full teaser and answerEinstein's Riddle
Einstein's Riddle: Einstein wrote the following riddle. He said that 98% of the world could not solve it. But several NIEHS scientists were able to solve it, and they said its not all that hard if you pay attention and are very patient. Give it a try:
There are 5 houses in 5 different colors in a row. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage. Other facts:
1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house...
Black to Play
Here’s another position from the 2026 FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament. At first glance Black is definitely on the ropes and waiting for a knockout, but Black has a game saving jab.
View solutionAnagrams
Each sentence below contains a word that can be anagrammed to answer or describe the sentence.
Example: Craft that might tip in the ocean. Answer: Canoe (Anagram of ocean)
1. Bit of brush
2. Opposite of unite
3. Writings of a steno
4. They affix without paste
5. Having less reason for fears
6. Animal that may need a shoer
Oxymorons
Can you figure out which well-known oxymorons these words translate to?
Ex) Initial facsimile = original copy
1) Latest ritual
2) Average huge
3) Juvenile grown-up
4) Factual deceptions
5) Unwell fitness
Hinkie Pinkie
These word pairs are not in relation to each other, but if you find their synonyms, the two words will rhyme.
Example : Over-sized Feline = Fat Cat
Dog Kiss
Funny Cat
Monster Movie
Unusual Rabbit
Copper Teapot
Wedding Limo
Untamed Minor
Black to Play
Hope you enjoyed the 21 instructional games which should have given you insights to all the amazing things that can happen on a chessboard. Today’s position is a case in point. Black is in dire straits here, yet she finds a way out.
View solutionMore Story-grams
Below is a (very) short story with 10 capitalized words or phrases which are anagrams of words that all fit in a certain category. Can you find the anagrams and determine the category?
NOTE: One of the answers contains two words.
A recently PAROLED man named Ari was going to ROB A PEARL boat of all of its FIG FARE. The boat was just off of the SHORE. He put on his BALM and donned his TOGA to SNEAK aboard. ARI GOT ALL of the NEAT HELP he needed from a safety pin that kept his toga IN PLACE.
View full teaser and answerWord Challenger
Find the correct words that fit with the following words:
Example: Air PORT Wine
1. Birth _ _ _ Light
2. Knock _ _ _ Line
3. Rock _ _ _ _ _ Bar
White to Play
Number 21 in our series of instructional games. Seidman - Santasiere B29 New York, 1939 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6? (Best is 2...Nc6) 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nc3 Nxc3 5.dxc3 (White is already more mobile.) 5...b6 6.Bc4 (Also fun is 6.e6 dxe6 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Ne5 Ke8 9.Bb5+ Nd7 10.Bc6 Rb8 11.Bf4) 6...e6 7.Bf4 (Zeroing in on Black's hole on d6.)7...Qc7 8.0–0 Bb7 9....
View solutionOperation Weapon-ectomy
Six words have had their weapons removed. The weapons have been placed into Group A. The remaining letters of each word have been placed into Group B. Your task is to reconstitute the words by merging each weapon with the proper set of letters. Other than merging the two groups together, there is no rearranging of the letters. Example: sand + pne = spanned (SpANneD).
Group A: bomb, gun, mace, rifle, saber, spear
Group B: ainale, ltto, niur, tiliz, toiat, urntual
Story-gram
Below is a (very) short story with 8 capitalized words or phrases which are anagrams of words that all fit in a certain category. Can you find the anagrams and determine the category?
An old car, which was REGAL BLACK, was traveling on a road named LONE OLD WAY. There were two people in the front seat. The man said, "We're going to the office. IT'S NEAR BRAD'S BAR. The new car gives A FASTER RIDE than normal, but I OWE DAN A LOT, as I've paid ONLY NORM, MARIE. I filled out the REBATE REPORTS, but they came back with a note that said, 'REDO FOR DR. BRET.'"
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Black to Play
Number 20 in our series of instructional games. Shamkovich - Nezhmetdinov (E97)Baku, 1961
This is a wild game. The King's Indian Defense is very difficult for both sides. This game demonstrates the war between Black's pawn storm on the kingside vs. White's pawn storm on the queenside. If you play either side, it's worth looking at the notes to ...
View solutionWord Swap
The following sentences have two blanks that can be filled with two words that are anagrams of each other. Can you figure out those words?
1. The burglar had __________ the entire apartment, and it seemed locating even one clue of his identity would be impossible. However, the skilled detective needed but a few __________ of the burglar's torn jeans to start the process of finding the perpetrator.
2. The construction boss sent Jim to the store for more __________. After an hour of Jim being gone, the boss remarked, "It's a good thing Jim is a hard worker because that boy is as slow as a __________.
3. What started out as a peaceful march turned into complete __________ and the National...
View full teaser and answerAbbreviations
Do you know what the following abbreviations mean?
COM DRA ADV ACT SPO MUS HOR SCI
View full teaser and answerBlank Change
In the four sentences below, are two blanks. You must fill them in with words that are either anagrams, synonyms, antonyms, or homonyms. You can only use each of these one time each sentence. Can you figure out each word?
1. The golfer has yelled out "____" ____ times today.
2. They began to ____ scones, and drink ____.
3. She used one ____ to look down at her wrist and see her ____.
4. He ran ____ the dog in order ____ not get bitten by it.
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White to Play
Number 19 in our series of instructional games. This is a good one for beginners to learn from the early notes. Shilov - Razdobarin B28 1959
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c3 d5! (A good idea against c3 with the Sicilian Defense.) 4.exd5 Qxd5 (The knight can't come to c3 to attack the queen, so this is good for Black. An equal game,but...) 5.d4! (White has...
View solutionWord Clues
For each of the following clues, what is a synonym that contains the letters in the () consecutively?
1. A talk (LEC)
2. A challenge between 2 or more people (CON)
3. To sign up (REG)
4. An organization established to help the needy (TY)
5. To talk (CATE)
6. In charge (SPON)
7. Place (CA)
Stolen Root Beer
Fred, who owns a restaurant, is convinced that one of his employees is stealing root beer from him. Since he is a bad businessman, he doesn't keep very good records of his inventory or his employees, so he doesn't know who is doing it. He decides to set a trap to find out who is stealing from him.
He assigns each of his employees a different night to close up shop. He then arranges the last 28 bottles of root beer in a square so that each side has nine bottles, as shown below:
2 5 2
5 0 5
2 5 2
Fred figures that whatever day he comes in where there are no longer nine bottles to a side, he will know it was the person who closed the night before who is doing it.
...
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