ArcaMax

First, an apology for my leaving out two (!) bishops in the last puzzle diagram. My thanks to Amelie Chan and Tony Stornetta for bringing it to my attention. There should be bishops at d3 and e3. Today we’re showing you an old trap in the c3 Sicilian. [You can't afford to play passively and then try to be aggressive against the c3 Sicilian. An...

Our third example of nice attacks out of the c3 Sicilian in the 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 line is from Stripunsky-Vigorito, New Hampshire, 2000. Alex has been a popular grandmaster in NJ and a fine chess teacher as well.

We're looking at c3 Sicilian positions. When things go right, White gets wonderful attacking positions like this one. This position is taken from a great new book of 2020 (!) miniature games by Carsten Hansen. If you like short games to play over here are over 2000 of them! Miniatures are like a chess dessert: small but delicious and brings a ...

For the next few weeks, we’re going to look at a line against the dreaded Sicilian Defense that is good for amateurs to use. It’s fairly straightforward and allows for lively play. It’s called the c3 Sicilian, and its goal is to get a strong center presence with opportunities for attack. You’ll see some samples this week of the “Nf6”...

We are going to look at a Smyslov composition because a great new book has come out: "The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, Volume 1" by Andrev Terekhov (Russell Enterprises, Inc.) Deeply annotated games and a detailed history of the champions life, and, indeed, Soviet chess life, make this a remarkably interesting book. What’s fascinating ...

We are looking at some early Smyslov games this week because a great new book has come out: "The Life and Games of Vasily Smyslov, Volume 1" by Andrev Terekhov (Russell Enterprises, Inc.) Deeply annotated games and a detailed history of the champions life, and, indeed, Soviet chess life, make this a remarkably interesting book.

This position arose with Smyslov to play against Bronstein at Groningen, 1946.What is the best way for Black to win here, which Black, btw, missed! Time to do better than the late world champion.

Yet another variation of the types of problems in Fairy Chess. Here, Black is to move first and, along with White, conspire to mate Black on white’s third move. The simplicity of the position with its minimal number of pieces is a fine introduction to helpmates.

Yes, there are no kings on the board. Your task here is to checkmate the knight (this week’s puzzles are all about having some playful fun with our game). You checkmate the knight by attacking it so it can’t move away without being captured. Defending the attacked knight is still mate, so you can’t do that. The first move is pretty clear, ...

And mate in one move! This fairy chess problem was created by world famous author Vladimir Nabokov. You just take back whatever white’s last move was and find a move in that previous position that mates in one.

This one is Black to Move and Draw. If it were white’s move, the win would be simple: 1. Kf3 Kd6 2. Ke4 Kc6 (2... Kc5 3. Ke5 Kc6 4. Kd4 Kb6 5. Kc4) 3. Kd4 Kb6 4. Kc4 Ka5 5. Kc5 Ka6 6. Kxb4 and easily queens one or both pawns. However, who has the move is important in chess. Equally important is the right move. What is black’s right move to ...

One more Knight Before Christmas. This time, White is desperate to draw and either prevent the pawn from queening by giving the king a hard time or by taking the pawn when it queens. There is only one first move that starts the drawing process.

We'll call this the Knight Before Christmas puzzle. All White has to do is figure out a way to force the black knight off attacking b8.

This is the last in our series of old classical attacks from the 19th century. Many of them have purposely been not well-known. Today's is no exception. Black has just taken white's rook on e1. The rest is a merry chase of the black king. Next week, we will go to the other extreme with endgames with just a few pieces. Between Christmas and the ...

In our look at classical attacking chess, many of the games have come from King's Gambits. It seemed easy: open the f-file, castle, put your bishop on c4, your knight on e5 or g5 and your queen on f3 and attack. Black eventually caught up with openings like the Falkbeer Counter Gambit which you will see here. Suddenly, great attackers like ...

OK, it’s back to the classics. This one shows Black biting back against the King’s Gambit. The game, Minckwitz-Flechsig, Leipzig, 1883, went as follows: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.c3 f5 6.Ng5 exf4 7.h4 fxe4 8.Nf7 Qe7 9.Nxh8 Ne5 10.Bxg8 Nd3+ 11.Kf1 f3 12.gxf3 exf3 13.Qxf3 and now Black sees that 13...Qe1+ 14.Kg2 Bh3+ 15.Kxh3 Nf4+ ...

We’re going to take a break from our study of classical attacks and change for a day to a classic of composition by David Joseph (1896-1984). Even some computers have a hard time with this one, evaluating it as a draw, but it’s a win.

No 19th century review of games would be complete without a queen sacrifice followed by a king hunt. Here's a gem from Charousek-Englander, 1894, and along the way you get to improve on the winner's way of finding a mate. And, of course, you get the whole game again!

Here’s another “how did they get there” position, so, again, you get to see the whole game. White has several ways to mate here. Pick the most spectacular!

You can get more 19th century than this wild chaotic game! I'm giving the whole game because one look at the diagram and it's natural to wonder how in the world they got to that position, and on only move 12, no less! You also get the diagram when Black initiates his attack. See if you can work out the whole line. It's a good way to appreciate ...