Sam Loyd - "Chess Puzzle Master"

Sam Loyd (January 31, 1841-April 10, 1911) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA).  He spent most of his childhood in New York, where he played chess and developed a fascination for solving complicated chess problems.

He had one of his first chess puzzles published in the New York Saturday Courier in 1855 and the same puzzle was later published in the New York Clipper the following year.  The recognition landed him a job with Chess Monthly Magazine as a chess problem editor.

Loyd had several chess puzzle books published over the years, but eventually became more fascinated with mathematical puzzles and concentrated his energies on those after 1870.  Loyd was eventually inducted as a member of the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.

One his most famous chess puzzles was called “Excelsior”, which was named after a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.   This 1861 puzzle is shown HERE.  Can you solve it?

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