ArcaMax

This is from a 5-minute game I recently played. I had about 20 seconds to make my move here, and there are some bad choices here.

A very important lesson on why you should not have weak dark squares.

Some of you more experience solvers will realize that the white queen has just taken a rook on h8 leaving a bishop that can’t move because of the loss of yet another rook; however, if you don’t know this theme, then you will learn an important to attacking concept.

Mating Attack

A Benko brilliancy from 1951.

This game finish is a feast of minor piece play.

An easy one for those of you feeling some post-holiday fatigue.

From H.R. Agnel’s 19th century classic, Chess for Winter Evenings. It’s a puzzle from one of his tales. It’s a mate in 5, but pretty direct.

From one of the most famous finishes in the 19th century.

This position arose in a 5-minute game I was playing online. My intuition told me a mate had to be there, but I will be honest with you—I did not see my last move until I arrived at that move.

The second move is worth remembering.

If you remember Rule Number One, this one’s easy.

A bit of an Arabian theme here.

I skipped side variations that led to heavy material loss. It’s an unusual mating attack. Here’s a weird clue: the knight is the piece that mates.

There’s a mate that’s unstoppable.

Mate in 5. You can do it! Remember rule number one.

Chess teachers always recommend tripling on the file to attack, but not what White has done on the h-file; still…

When I realized I had forgotten one of Spassky’s most famous games, I had to include it. It was a dramatic occasion, and he annihilated a top grandmaster before move 20, and Boris had the black pieces no less!

My last Spassky memorial puzzle.

Spassky topples Petrosian in 1967.