ArcaMax

A great finish by Colle in 1930.

We will finish our little lesson on interference themes with a dandy double version—appropriately so, because H. Johner beat P. Johner with this mate in three back in 19005.

The genius puzzle composer, Sam Loyd, won this position in an actual game in 1868.

A strategy from puzzle composers comes into play here.

Sam Loyd will complete our week with a formation that becomes famous in puzzle lore: the two adjacent rooks flanked by their two bishops. Problemists would copy this formation to come up with some ingenious mates. We’ll start with an easy mate in two.

From endings to openings. Black gives a demonstration how not to play defense and White shows how to punish that:1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 f5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 exd4 6.Qxd4 Bd7? [Better, but still dismal is 6...Nc6 7.Qe3 fxe4 8.0–0! Bf5 9.Ng5 d5 10.Rd1 d4 11.Qf4 Qd7 12.Nb5 0–0–0 13.Nf7] 7.Ng5 Nc6 8.Bf7+ Ke7

Pop Quiz Monday! Do you remember all those principles from the king and pawn endings early this past summer? Here's a study from Horwitz and Kling from the 19th century.

Here’s another adjudication decision for you to make. Is this a win? If so, for whom? Or is it a draw?

We have a different twist today. You are being appointed adjudicator for this position that arose in a game. There’s no more time to play, so a judge, usually a master, decides if it’s a win or draw. Is it a win or draw for White, and what is your analysis supporting your judgment?

This is an old classic problem: Black is threatening a mate in one at g2 while defending the mate at h7, but White mates anyhow.

The winning continuation here is a bit out of the ordinary.

This wild game from 1912 was won by Alekhine against Levenfish (nobody's fool--a later grandmaster). How did the future world champ win this?

I just couldn’t leave this form of puzzle, so here’s another one created by the genial genius Dr. Blathy. A king and knight mate Black’s king while starting out against his entire army.

Here’s a real challenge: this is the easiest composed mate in two I could find. Can you find the answer in less than 5 minutes?

You’ve gone through 12 weeks and 36 endgame and middle game lessons. That was some serious summer school work. Now, let’s have some fun! Just for you—a mate in 12! There is a logic to it, so you should be able to do it.

This is our last chess summer school puzzle. A total of 12 king and pawn endings, 12 rook and pawn endings and 12 attacks on the king's castled position--36 lessons over 12 weeks. I hope you learned something and even had fun. Today's game, between Katakymov and Ilivicki, 1959, is different in that the black pawn is again at f6, but the king is ...

From Aronsson-Wadling, 1951. Black has just "tickled" the knight. What do you do?

This week, our 4th on the middle game, features attacking the castled position when the defense has a pawn on f6 (or f3 if White). You don't see it as often, so it's worth taking a look at. In this game, Marin-Fernandez-Garcia, Spain, 1981, we have an attack really quite special. Use all your attacking and sacrificial skills in thinking on how ...

This was a position from Hartston-Portisch at the Nice Olympiad in 1974 and is the last of our attacks on h6. There are several variations, so see if you can anticipate them.    

Welcome to Chess Summer School! We’re in the third week of king side castled position attacking possibilities. This week is about possibilities when there’s a pawn on h6. This particular position is interesting in that it’s an advanced form of the previous position. It’s more complex, so you have to figure out black’s options to white�...