Nothing Fancy, Just Puzzles

Farnel

Jan 28, 2014, 2:37 AM | 5

This month, no grand unifying theme, no connection between the puzzles, it is just a bunch of entertaining and I hope interesting puzzles for you to solve. I have tried this time to keep the puzzles a little less challenging, let me know if you agree, or not. Let's get straight into it.

The first one shouldn't be too difficult. That black king is looking a little lonely, and white has quite a bit of firepower aimed his way. It should be no surprise then that there is quick win here. We Aussies like to be a little different - the checkmating move may not be unique in chess, but it certainly is in my experience. This puzzle is especially for everyone's favourite newsletter editor, she knows who she is.

Next, enjoy the thrill of the chase. Not a long one to be sure, the black king is again rather vulnerable. Again, it should come as no surprise that white can mate in 3.

No clues here, it is fairly simple. Another cramped black king, another quick kill. White mates in 3 moves.

A surprise - this one is not a mate in 3! In such a simple ending, a pawn up is often a draw especially if the defending king and knight are close to the pawn. And here the white king can offer no support to his pawn at all from the far corner on a1. But all is not quite as it seems - what can you find for white to bring home the full point?

Now another mate in 3 for you here. There is a common mating theme here but is not quite ready to to appear on the board, white must prepare it. Find the idea and find the win.

We'd better not let white have it all his own way so here it is black to play and win. This the finish from a famous Nimzovitch game so my apologies if you have already seen it.

That's it for another month. I hope you enjoyed this selection. See you next month.

Nothing Fancy, Just Puzzles

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