ArcaMax

Here’s a cute Tal finish and an example of what else was in the position.

From a game Janowski-Schallop, 1896. Both White rooks are threatened by the Black queen, but White has a solution.

A real change of pace. Black moves first and teams up with White to produce a stalemate of Black’s team. It’s a fun challenge for kids for learn term planning education.

There are a couple of ways to achieve a mating attack here.

I just pulled this game up from 1973 when cleaning my files. It was a match game I played, and it is after Black just played 18…a6. What did I play here to win the game?

W. Cohn reached this position at Cologne in 1898 against W. Steinitz, who held the world championship for almost three decades. With a mating attack right there on the board, Cohn missed it and ended up drawing. What did he miss?

This is a position reached by Bird against Steinitz. He did win, but missed a mate in three.

This is a great attacking game by Steinitz. It went

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 4.d4 e6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0–0 0–0 8.Be3 b6 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.f4 Nbd7 11.Qe2 Nd5 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.Rf3 f5 14.Rh3 g6 15.g4 fxg4 16.Rxh7 Nxe5 17.fxe5 Kxh7 18.Qxg4 Rg8 19.Qh5+ Kg7 SEE DIAGRAM At this point try and figure out the whole attacking plan in your head. ...

A Paul Morphy classic mating attack.

From Rohacek-May, Bad Sliac, 1932. Black played 8...Qxe1+ 9.Rxe1 Bxh3 which loses to 10.Rb3. How could Black have avoided loss?

This is one of those wild and wooly 19th century King’s Gambit games where Black, for a change, ends up mating White.

A great grandmaster missed this mating attack for Black.

A hint for those who know. This is an example of a switchback theme from problem composition.

This is a little variation on the Lucena mating theme.

From a game against an amateur won by Capablanca. It’s a theme that has shown up several times in chess games. Not a lot, but worth knowing.

A young, pre-world champion Alexander Alekhine was playing 20 at once in 1913 and came upon this position. He announced mate in ten. If you remember Rule Number One, often state here, you will be off to a good start, and it will be easier than you might think.

This one’s for novices. You should be able to tell it came out of a King’s Gambit Accepted because of the missing f-pawn. Can you tell how to continue the game from here?

Hope you had a great 4th of July! By solving this problem, you can tell your friends you once solved a mate in 27!

This is a prime example of the poor pawn’s disadvantage of only being able to move backwards. Mate in Four. Enjoy Independence Day!

You might think White’s task is to draw here; however, White, despite being a rook down, wins this. All Black has to do is give up one of its pieces to draw, but White makes that impossible. To get full credit, you have to play the best defense for Black.