ArcaMax

We’re continuing to follow our game with our second position. This is how the game went from move one: 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 d5 5.e3 c6 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0–0 0–0 8.Ne2 Nbd7 9.Ng5 Bxh2+ 10.Kh1 Ng4 11.f4 Qe8 12.g3 Qh5 13.Kg2. How do you continue your attack as Black?

We’re going to do something for the next week that we’ve done once before: go through an entire game in stages. With puzzles you only get a snapshot of the end of the game. With this weeklong game you get to solve the decisions that had to be made to get to the final puzzle and concluding mating attack. Here were the first nine moves that ...

It’s Mate in Two Monday. I might have saved this for a Weird Wednesday.

I’m sure everybody that reads this column can mate a lone king with a king and two rooks. Can you do it in three moves from this position?

This composition is amusing because Black gets more checks and ends up with more material, but still gets mated in six.

Black played one move here and White resigned. What was that move?

Two big hints on this one. First, it’s all knight moves except one. The one exception is on move 4. It’s worth a try in your head to try and control these knights. It’s more like a border collie rounding up a stray sheep.

This is a mating attack in an endgame. You should be able to logic it out considering the position of the black king and white king.

This is a mate in two against the notorious “Organ Pipes” set up on the a-file. This problem has a dual solution—an unfortunate flaw. However, we are going to make lemonade out of lemons. Find both solutions!

Games like this made the Evans Gambit very popular in days of yore: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 exd4 7.cxd4 Bb6 8.0–0 Nf6? 9.e5 d5 10.exf6 dxc4 11.d5 Qxf6 12.dxc6 Qxa1 (see diagram). Now show how you would finish Black off.

White is in a precarious position. He can probably draw by setting up a fortress, but one little mistake and the rook or the knight may get picked off by the queen, which would lead to loss. However, there is a way he can force the draw in three moves. See if you can find it.

I hope you have enjoyed this little change of pace by doing one game and using three positions from the game. Do write me and let me know if you did—or didn’t! This is our last diagram in this game. From the previous puzzle, we left off with Black playing 9…fxg5. I

Now we are in part two of our game that we’re following. So far it’s gone Wahltuch - Palmer [C67], 1910-- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5 Nxb5 7.a4 Nd6? Then we learned last time out that 8.exd6 allowed Black to equalize, and that 8.Bg5! was the best move. In response to 8.Bg5 Black played 8…f6. Now, what is White...

We’re going to follow an old game section by section this week. It’s a miniature from 1910. The opening moves were 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.dxe5 Nxb5 7.a4 Nd6? Better is 7...d6 8.e6 fxe6 9.axb5 Ne7 with either 10.Nc3 or 10.Ng5 with a very spirited game. Now it’s your turn to decide White’s move.

Here’s a puzzle from an ante-bellum book, Chess for Winter Evenings by Agnel. There’s a story attached about a little girl watching her mom and grandfather playing, and she blurts out the mate in 5 that allows mom (who had been trying not to win against the old guy) to win. Later that night, her grandfather passes on to the eternal checkmate.

There is an ironclad logic to this puzzle. White is virtually forced to win. That black pawn is going to queen. White can temporarily prevent it, but it will happen, so the only alternative to try and win is to …

I recently ran across a chess column in a newspaper from the late 1930s by George P. Northrop. He had this odd-looking mate in 7 I just couldn’t resist sharing. There is a certain sense of humorous despair in the solution. I hope you give it a try considering you can force Black into one line of play.

White has broken open Black’s castled position and has exposed the Black king. White’s next step is to find a way to draw the Black king forward to mate him. Just keep checking is always one plan!

Today’s puzzle was composed, and you’re going to get a bunch of hints. First hint: The first move is obviously 1.Kg6. Second hint: Black has only one defensive move to stop the mate. Third hint: After the exchange, you have to count and then visualize the position after the first check. Fourth hint: Your winning checks will have to go up ...

Well, I did get email from the April Fool’s Day puzzle. Here’s the solution: 1.Rf4 Kxh1 2.Kf2 Kh2 3.Rh4 mate or the fun one that causes all the problems—1.Rf4 Kxg3 2.0-0!! (many forgot that possibility) and mates next move. For today, we have a normal correspondence game from 1992-93.