Chess 4 - Puzzle Prime

Reti’s Magic

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Medium

It is White’s move next. Is this game a win for Black or a draw?

SOLUTION

The game is a draw. The first two moves of White are Kg7 and Kf6. If Black moves the king twice in the meantime, then White can get to the pawn on the h-file and take it. If Black moves the king once, then White plays Ke5. If Black moves the king again, White can take the pawn on the h-file. Otherwise, White plays Kd6 and can promote his pawn right after Black promotes his. Finally, if after Kg7 and Kf6 Black moves the pawn twice, then White plays Ke7, and once again can promote his pawn right after Black promotes his.

Richard Réti July 25, 2018

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Monochromatic

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Advanced

If you know that the following game has been monochromatic, i.e. no piece has moved from black to white square or vice-versa, which one is the correct position of the bishop – e3 or e4?

SOLUTION

The correct position of the bishop is e3. Otherwise, no White’s piece could have captured the last Black’s piece, moving on black squares.

Unknown Author January 30, 2018

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Game of Chess

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Hard

Ned and Jon are playing chess. Eventually, they end up in a position in which Ned (whites) is left with 2 rooks, and Jon (blacks) has just his king on the board. If Ned can mate Jon in exactly 4 different ways, what is the position of the pieces?

SOLUTION

Black king on a1, white king on e1, white rooks on c2 and h1. Ned hasn’t moved his king and rook, so he can either castle or move his king to d2, e2 or f2, resulting in a mate.

Unknown Author January 20, 2018

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Half Move Mate

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Medium

White plays and mates in half a move. How is it possible?

SOLUTION

White completes his castle by putting the rook on f1 and mating Black.

Sam Loyd November 22, 2017

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Impossible!

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Hard

Is it possible the following chess position to occur in a game?

SOLUTION

No, it is impossible. The White’s pawn from e2 should have captured the Black’s bishop from c8. In order for the bishop to get there, the pawn on c6 should have captured one of White’s rooks. It couldn’t be the rook from h1, so it should have been the rook from a1. But in order for the rook from a1 to get to c6, the pawns from b2 and c2 should have been moved to b3 and c4 respectively. However, in that case, the bishop from f1 couldn’t get to a4, since it has been blocked before the capture e2xf3.

Unknown Author November 19, 2017

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Chess Aggression

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Expert

Starting from this position, can you make 39 consecutive checks – 20 from White and 19 from Black?

SOLUTION

The sequence is as follows:

1. Nh2+ f1N+
2. Rxf1+ gxf1N+
3. Ngxf1+ Bg5+
4. Qxg5+ Bg2+
5. Nf3+ exf3+
6. Kd3+ Nc5+
7. Qxc5+ Re3+
8. Nxe3+ c1N+
9. Qxc1+ d1Q+
10. Qxd1+ e1N+
11. Qxe1+ Bf1+
12. Nxf1+ f2+
13. Ne3+ f1Q+
14. Qxf1+ Qxf1+
15. Nxf1+ Re3+
16. Nxe3+ b1Q+
17. Rxb1+ axb1Q+
18. Nc2+ Nf2+
19. Bxf2+

Unknown Author October 16, 2017

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Queen’s Death

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Hard

On which spot was the white queen captured?

SOLUTION

Since the pawns on e6 and h6 have taken 2 of the White’s pieces, and the only two white pieces which could get there are the knight and the queen, the answer is one of these two squares. Similarly, the pawn on b3 should have taken the Black’s c8 bishop, and this should have happened before the White’s queen was taken. Therefore first the white knight was taken on e6, then the black bishop on b3, and finally the white queen on h6.

Raymond Smullyan September 28, 2017

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Chess Cylinder

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Medium

Imagine the following game occurs on a cylindrical board, on which the a-file and h-file are attached to each other. White plays first and mates Black in 2 moves.

SOLUTION

White plays Rook on a5, then Ra1#. He can’t take the pawn on a6, because Black will take back with the pawn on h7.

Unknown Author September 1, 2017

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Knocked Off Piece

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Expert

The following position occurs in a real game, right after one of the pieces gets knocked off the board. What was the piece?

SOLUTION

It was a black knight. First, notice that the black pawns have moved 14 times diagonally and thus they have taken 14 pieces. Therefore the knocked off piece is black. Since it is impossible for both kings to be checked at the same time, the missing piece was positioned on a2. It couldn’t be a queen or a rook, because the white king would be checked both by it and the pawn on b3, which is impossible. Therefore the missing piece is either the black white-squared bishop or the black knight. However, the pawns on b7 and d7 haven’t been moved the entire game and then the black white-squared bishop hasn’t either. Thus we conclude that the knocked off piece is a black knight.

Unknown Author July 19, 2017

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Funky Mate

Section: Brain Teasers Category: Chess

Difficulty: Medium

Place only 2 rooks and 1 knight on the board, so that the Black player is mated.

SOLUTION

You can place the rooks on c5 and e5, and the knight on f5.

Unknown Author March 10, 2017

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