The Chess Mind

White to move and draw:



It's a neat little puzzler, and when you're ready to see the solution, the answer is but a click away.

White to move and draw (obviously); solution tomorrow.

By way of reminder, the problem to be solved looks like this:



It's White to move, and despite his having an extra queen, the threat of ...g1Q - with check, at that! - makes the position a challenge. Of course White can play 1.Ne4, with the idea of meeting 1...g1Q+ with the winning 2.Nf2+, but it's not at all obvious what he can do after 1...Nd3!, as 2.Qxd3 g1Q+ is a draw.

If you haven't worked on it yet, or if you only came up with 1.Ne4 g1Q+? 2.Nf2+, here's your chance to figure it out. If you're ready to see the solution, however, it's just a click away.

Here's your position; it's White to move and win:



The solution will be given tomorrow.

Yesterday I offered this position for my readers' analytical labors; it's White to move:



The position looks innocent enough - maybe White can try to induce some sort of weakness on the b1-h7 diagonal with Qc2 or Bb1 followed by Qc2, but it doesn't seem as if White should have anything that great here. There is one thing you might have noticed, if you have a good nose for tactics: the Bc5 can almost be won by means of b4. Black is saved by virtue of the Qe7's backup (though on the other hand, if the queen weren't there, b4 wouldn't trap the bishop), so unless the queen needs to stay where it is to defend some other threat, b4 is a blank shot.

So, is the queen doing anything else on e7? It turns out that she is...but I'll leave that as a hint to those of you who haven't already solved the puzzle, but would like to keep trying now. When you're ready to see what Larry Christiansen found in his game from the 1982 Olympiad in Lucerne against Gert Ligterink, have a click here.

P.S. My software had a terrible time with this position: Fritz and Shredder took a pretty long time to realize that White is winning here, and while Rybka eventually found the right first move, it didn't see that it was winning until I proceeded several moves in. Three cheers for humanity!

Here's the position; it's White to move.



I could offer some vague and vaporous comments about the position (e.g. White's position looks slightly more aggressive, Black's Bb7 looks to highlight White's potential weakness on the long diagonal), but those sorts of statements are at best a starting point in determining the truth here.

Happy analyzing! The solution will be given tomorrow.

From the game Cornette-Paschall, Budapest 2006:


Black to move.

White's up a couple of pawns here, and Black's long-term counterattacking chances are suspicious at best. What then? Paschall found an ingenious solution:

1...Rxb2! 2.Kxb2 Rb8+ 3.Ka1

3.Kc1 comes to the same thing, while 3.Ka3 is unique but terrible - 3...Qe7+ wins, as 4.Ka4 Qa7 is mate while 4.Rb4 Rxb4 is crushing even if it didn't force mate in at most 6 more moves.

3...Rb1+! 4.Kxb1 Nc3+



Another cute point of the combination: if 5.Kc1? Nxe4 6.Rxe4?? Qa1#.

5.Kb2 Nxe4

and although White still has some advantage, his king is somewhat exposed and his queenside pawn structure isn't as neat as it was. I wouldn't describe the current position as drawn, but it's not surprising that the players split the point just eight moves later. A nice tactic, and you can replay the whole game here.