Five of my favourite puzzles!

Puzzles; don't you just love them?

My biggest leap in terms of chess development happened in the bath... Yes, that's right, the bath!

Let me explain. I used to love chilling in the bath for about 30 minutes a day. What could possible be a better way to relax then by slipping away into a 'bath coma'. At some point during my bath coma days; maybe really a little lonely, I decided to take a chess puzzle book with me into the bath. My aim was to solve three puzzles a day. Two months after doing this, my elo rating improved from about 2200 to 2400! Bath chess, that is the way!

You can not go wrong solving chess puzzles. Puzzles will sharpen your mind and help you spot things quicker over the board. In this blog I will challenge you to solve five puzzles that I have really enjoyed. Just to warn you, some are easy some are hard! Try not to cheat, take your time in working them out!

Puzzle 1

White to play and force checkmate!

Puzzle 2

White to play and force checkmate!

Puzzle 3

What is Black's best move?

Puzzle 4

It looks like Black is in a dire situation as he is threatened with checkmate on f7 and gxh8=Q+. 

What is the only way he can survive these threats and in the process gain a good position?

I hope that you enjoyed those puzzles. That last one is probably my favourite puzzle of all time! 

Here is another personal favourite:

Bye for now!