Here's a very beautiful mating attack from a 19th century game. One of the great things about chess notation is that it allows us to reconstruct games from centuries past, and experience them just as if they were happening today.
Even in the age of punch cards and vacuum tubes, people were creating chess-playing computers. This endgame is from one such match, where the computer lost in twenty-three moves, the last ten of which were a forced mate.
There's an excess space in that FEN, before 'n4B'.
__________________ Hear me / and if I close my mind in fear / please pry it open See me / and if my face becomes sincere / beware Hold me / and when I start to come undone / stitch me together Save me / and when you see me strut / remind me of what left this outlaw torn
There's an excess space in that FEN, before 'n4B'.
I didn't put it there; it's a bug with the board. Apparently it randomly inserts spaces in long strings of characters, whether or not they're going to cause problems with the formatting. If you go to "Quote", you'll see it without the space.
__________________ Hear me / and if I close my mind in fear / please pry it open See me / and if my face becomes sincere / beware Hold me / and when I start to come undone / stitch me together Save me / and when you see me strut / remind me of what left this outlaw torn
Here's a mate in eight that I played in an over-the-board game recently. There's a lot of enjoyment to be had just in playing chess against another person, especially when that person is a good friend and as enthusiastic a chess player as oneself.
White to move and mate in eight.
Nullifidian vs. Null's Friend, a pub in San Diego, 2008
Here's a mate in eight that I played in an over-the-board game recently. There's a lot of enjoyment to be had just in playing chess against another person, especially when that person is a good friend and as enthusiastic a chess player as oneself.
White to move and mate in eight.
Nullifidian vs. Null's Friend, a pub in San Diego, 2008
The FEN for this puzzle is:
6k1/4p3/3pPbPp/8/8/2P1N3/PqB1K1Q1/8
I love the way you were able to put the diagram of the board in like that. Could you please private message me and tell me how I can do that? Also, did you see this checkmate over the board, or did you find it in the post game analysis.
Best
AO
__________________ OzChess - Australia's Chess Forum- Upcoming Chess Tournaments, Game Analysis, Chess Politics, & Australian Chess News http://www.ozchess.com
I love the way you were able to put the diagram of the board in like that. Could you please private message me and tell me how I can do that? Also, did you see this checkmate over the board, or did you find it in the post game analysis.
Best
AO
I sent the private message off. I saw the checkmate over the board. It was actually easier than it first appears, because the first step is easy, and the rest of it is figuring out if the attack can be sustained. I considered the possibilities and decided that it could.
I love the way you were able to put the diagram of the board in like that. Could you please private message me and tell me how I can do that? Also, did you see this checkmate over the board, or did you find it in the post game analysis.
Best
AO
I sent the private message off. I saw the checkmate over the board. It was actually easier than it first appears, because the first step is easy, and the rest of it is figuring out if the attack can be sustained. I considered the possibilities and decided that it could.
Great! Got your PM, thanks. Have you any more chess puzzles?
ps- Post 52 above contains a brilliant puzzle, just amazing and imaginative!
__________________ OzChess - Australia's Chess Forum- Upcoming Chess Tournaments, Game Analysis, Chess Politics, & Australian Chess News http://www.ozchess.com
I have a nice matching pair of puzzles, both mates in four, which unfortunately have a lot of alternate solutions, but one only needs one example of each to get the thematic idea, so I might just leave it at that and let others work out all the alternative lines.
Simply because of the placement of the White queen on the opposite side of the board from the Black king, he can get away with leading with Kxh2 in every case, unlike in the former puzzle where it leads to a quicker mate.
The FEN for the puzzle is:
8/8/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNk
This chess puzzle involves several fairly common themes, most notably how to build an attack with fewer pieces. At this juncture, things look bad for Black. Black is down a rook, a knight, and a pawn, and Black's king is stranded in the center while White's sleeps snugly behind a wall of pawns and a rook. However, at the end of seven moves, Black is going to checkmate White. How?
Oooooh La la, I am going to enjoy this. These are exactly the type of unorthadox puzzles that I love. Can I have a couple days to consider these Nullifidian?
Best
AO
ps- Can you please delete the spoiler so I'm not tempted to cheat?
__________________ OzChess - Australia's Chess Forum- Upcoming Chess Tournaments, Game Analysis, Chess Politics, & Australian Chess News http://www.ozchess.com
Oooooh La la, I am going to enjoy this. These are exactly the type of unorthadox puzzles that I love. Can I have a couple days to consider these Nullifidian?
Best
AO
ps- Can you please delete the spoiler so I'm not tempted to cheat?
Unfortunately, after more than a day passes, I cannot go back and re-edit the puzzle. But since you ask, in future, I can post the answers later, with the next puzzle.
And just to be efficient, here's the next puzzle, and it's another original composition.
Black to move and mate in four.
The FEN is:
8/8/7p/8/1r6/8/K6P/3k4
Last edited by Nullifidian; 04-18-2008 at 09:13 PM.
Unfortunately, after more than a day passes, I cannot go back and re-edit the puzzle. But since you ask, in future, I can post the answers later, with the next puzzle.
And just to be efficient, here's the next puzzle, and it's another original composition.
Black to move and mate in four.
This one looks really good! I haven't given up on the others yet, but will give this one my full attention. You've got a talent for finding nice puzzles Nullifidian.
AO
__________________ OzChess - Australia's Chess Forum- Upcoming Chess Tournaments, Game Analysis, Chess Politics, & Australian Chess News http://www.ozchess.com
Oooooh La la, I am going to enjoy this. These are exactly the type of unorthadox puzzles that I love. Can I have a couple days to consider these Nullifidian?
Best
AO
ps- Can you please delete the spoiler so I'm not tempted to cheat?
Unfortunately, after more than a day passes, I cannot go back and re-edit the puzzle. But since you ask, in future, I can post the answers later, with the next puzzle.
And just to be efficient, here's the next puzzle, and it's another original composition.
Black to move and mate in four.
The FEN is:
8/8/7p/8/1r6/8/K6P/3k4
Fuck. 4 moves? I did it in 6, does that count?
__________________ Father Helel, save us from the dark.
I am working under the assumption that 1. ... QxF2+ is the correct first move... and I'm either missing something that completes the mate, or there's a better starting move that's completely eluded me.
__________________ Father Helel, save us from the dark.
I am working under the assumption that 1. ... QxF2+ is the correct first move... and I'm either missing something that completes the mate, or there's a better starting move that's completely eluded me.
No, I'm afraid it doesn't count if you do it in six moves.
And you're right about the first move.
My next hint to you would be:
think queen sac.
If you still can't get it, the solution is included with the puzzle. All you have to do is click the spoiler buttons.
I am working under the assumption that 1. ... QxF2+ is the correct first move... and I'm either missing something that completes the mate, or there's a better starting move that's completely eluded me.
No, I'm afraid it doesn't count if you do it in six moves.
And you're right about the first move.
My next hint to you would be:
think queen sac.
If you still can't get it, the solution is included with the puzzle. All you have to do is click the spoiler buttons.
AHA! Got them both.
52 came to me fast with that tip - once I realized I could make the white rook into a fatal obstacle it made perfect sense.
The other one pissed me off, it took me FOREVER to figure out how not to end up a move behind the king (I've done checkmate plays before with rook and king, so I knew what to look for but the trick that eluded me was forcing the white king to go back into position.
These are freakin' hard man... except maybe 64, but I've been in a spot very similar, and the queen sac was REAL obvious.
__________________ Father Helel, save us from the dark.
If 1. ... Kxf6, then 2.cxb4 Ke5 3.Kb1 Kd4 4.Kc1 Kc4 5.Kd2 Kxb4 6.Kd3= Black loses his extra pawn, and the result is a draw: 6...Kc5 7.Kc3 Kd5 8.Kxb3 Kd4 9.Kc2 Ke3 10.b4 Kd4 11.Kb3 d5 12.b5 Kc5 13.Ka4 d4 14.b6 Kxb6 15.Kb4=
If 3...Kd5, then 4.Nxb3 Kc4 5.Nc1 d5 6.b4!= which is also a draw.
This is a variant of Stamma's Mate. By themselves, two knights and a king (or one knight and a king) cannot force checkmate, but in the right position a knight and a king can force checkmate against a knight and a pawn on the same "edge" file, either a or h.
This original composition is two knights and a king against a king and a pawn, and the result looks a bit like a game of a leapfrog.
From the position below, it's White to move and mate in five.
Well, my hint would be that you should remember Stamma's Mate only works if the enemy king is in one of those two particular files on the side of the board at all times.
Now for yet another original composition, this is a different form of mating pattern called an Epaulette Mate. As with many puzzles of this type, recognizing the type of mate is the biggest clue to solving the puzzle.
Black to move and mate in three.
The FEN is:
2r5/1k4PR/1p3R2/1K6/1P6/P7/1r6/8
Last edited by Nullifidian; 04-22-2008 at 09:47 AM.