Weekly Puzzle Challenge

Hello Members!

      Sometimes studying chess can be boring and slow. However, from time to time it is a good idea to have some fun with it. :) That is why I am launching a 10 week puzzle solving challenge! Puzzles and tactics are an integral part of chess. Pattern recognition, calculation speed, and learning to calculate precisely are all learned with these. Each week I will be posting a new puzzle that you will attempt to solve. The winner, as described in the Rules, Scoring, and Regulation” section, will have his or her name inscribed on our first group tournament, and of course will receive group recognition as a fearsome tactics genius. I cannot stop you from using a computer and cheating, however, doing so is completely useless and is degrading to oneself. You are receiving a small bit of glory that will fade into history quickly, and you will not receive any lasting help from this. The reason why I am doing this is to help you become a better chess player through stretching your mind; growth comes at the point of resistance. I hope that you will take these tough nuts seriously and try to learn all you can about each tactic that you can!!

- Rules, Scoring, and Regulations -

1. The goal of our game is to gain as many points by the end of the 10 week period as possible; the winner is the one who finishes with the most points.

2. Points can be earned in a number of different ways and many points can be racked up with the right entry.

   1. To be eligible you must send your answer to me in a private message. I’d suggest finding your answer, then clicking the contact admin button (for convenience) and submitting your answers there. DO NOT POST ANSWERS ON THIS FORUM UNTIL I POST THE ANSWER, YOU WILL BE EJECTED FROM THE COMPETITION IF YOU DO AND POSSIBLY THE GROUP. However you are welcome and encouraged to discuss the problem with your cohorts after the week is up.

   2. One point is awarded if your entry is the first I received.

   3. Two points are received if all you did was send in an answer, three points are given if you give me alternate lines, and four points are awarded if you not only give alternate lines but annotate your findings and discuss the ends and outs of the position as if you were teaching me the tactic.

   4. One point is deducted if your answers comes after the hint has been given (i.e. 3 points are awarded instead of 4 if you give me a well annotated answer after the hint). The hint will be given on Thursday or Friday.

   5. If I receive well annotated answers, the person whose annotations are the best among all annotations, according to me, will receive an additional 2 points and I will use that person’s answer as the solution. post at the end of the week. Answers will be posted Sunday or Monday.

   6. Zero points are awarded after the solution has been posted no matter what. Even if you were gone all week, than you will not be eligible for any points.

3. You can join at any time and do not have to send in an answer each puzzle.

4. Prizes are awarded as follows:

   1. 1^st place earns his or her name on a group tournament and can name it what he or she prefers. Also, this person will receive accolades from the group about his or her accomplishments.

   2. 2^nd place earns his or her name on a group vote chess game.

   3. 3^rd place gets his or her name on the next group team match.

   4. Honorable mentions will be awarded at my discretion.

Good luck to you all:

MAY THE BEST PLAYER WIN!!

Puzzle #1:

Let’s start with an easy one… :) white is clearly winning period, but can you find a way to mate black in just two moves?

Thank you

Problem #1 Hint:

This is one of the hardest mate in twos out there. If you are having trouble figuring it out, that is fine. However it is only two moves long so anyone can solve it with a bit of logic. White wants to check black with the bishop and mate him, however you can't do that becasue moving the knight loosens control of f5. The Idea is to figure out how to defend that pawn, while also understanding all his threats. Good Luck!

Ok, thank you for all of you who joined or tried to get the right answer...this was not that easy! I encourage you to join in because of course the more players the merrier!

Problem #1 Solution:

The best response and the one I would have added here if I hadn't accedentally deleted his email, was nanobot16! He was the first with the best so good for him! Ya'll need to work hard to catch up :)

This is a good example of what I am expecting from a "best response."

Hope y'all enjoyed and maybe persuaded a few of you to join? Puzzle two next...It is not too late to join!

Puzzle #2

Personally, I think this is easy, so free points...IF you join..., white to move and win in 3. (blacks pawns are going down the board!)

Puzzle #2 - Hint

Ok, for those of you who haven't yet figured it out, the idea is black can't move. So, give him a move. You can't move your bishop to un-pin his g-pawnn, Nf7+ doesn't lead to mate, so what's left?

Good luck!

Puzzlle #2 - Solution

Nanobot got the best response, again, however, the FEN's don't copy annotation, so I don't have his exact answer. However congrats to him with a second 7 points!

Puzzle #3:

White to move, and his pawns are going up the board.

Good luck!!

Puzzle #3 - Hint

 Ok, this one is difficult but the idea is you need to make black move his king to the a-file. Do this by a check. However, don't lose your queen when you do so! White is in your opponent is in stalemate and he would love to lure your queen to the a-file to ensure a draw.

The answer can be found by watching my most recent YouTube video here. If you want free points...check it out! :)

Puzzle #3 - Solution

Ok, so the answer is straight forward, but winning is not. Of course the move is h8=Q, because no other move stops a1=Q. Black then smiles, and plays a1=Q anyway...point is that white cannot play QxQ becasue of stalemate. Black's plan is to keep on attacking whites queen until a draw is reached. If black can just move his queen up and down the a-file stopping any checkmates by moving the king, and not allowing any queen captures becasue of mate. So the idea is to get black's king onto the a-file, so that when the queen goes to the a-file again to attack the queen...you can take and boom...check!

Ok, to be perfectly honest, I am just plain disapointed that this forum has not gotten off the ground. When I did this in my last group, we probably had 7-10 people go at puzzles every week, so far on average we have had 1-2. This is pathetic, you are letting Nanobot, the only dude with more than 2 points, run away with the championship. If he gets past round 5, there will be no catching him as this week again, he was the 1st person to get it right and win 7 points becasue of best annotations. If you are interested in this forum, please let me know! We need people to fill up 2nd and 3rd positions, getting your name on a team match and becoming a stronger player is worth the couple minuets it takes to solve these problems right? :)

Puzzle #4 - White to move...and win!

Good luck all, lets see if we can get 3 of you to respond this week...Don't forget it only takes 3 points to come into 2nd place!

So we will have two weeks becasue of my super busyness, so if you havent solved it yet, make sure to give it a shot. Currently, this puzzle has gotten more responses than any other puzzle before, so, thank you!!!

Hint, ok, first, you have to get out of checks, without allowing the rook to pin your pawn, or to come down to d1, and there be nothing you can do to stop Rc1+, stopping your pawn and drawing. So, once you get down to the bottom, you must find black's sneaky defense for bonus points, then, figure out a way to beat it!

Good luck and merry christmas!

Puzzle #4 - Solution

So, what could the answer be? Click below to find out! The basic idea is to get to c2, to not allow Rd1-c1 to be a skewer threat, then after you find black's awesome defensive move Rc4, you underpromote, and black gets mated by force. Pretty cool!

Mr. nanobot and Mr. dartmouth shared best answer, but becasue of christmas I didn't get a chance to ask one of them to post thier answer. Will try next week though! Thank you for having more participation, we had 3...answers, but that still is too small!! I am attempting a more intersting, tough problem to maybe entice you stronger players to go for it! This next one is a benko baffler :)

Puzzle #5 - White to move and win

You are up three pawns...good luck winning though! (yes, the position is set up correctly :)

Good luck all!

Ok, I have had no responses to this puzzle, which is ok, becasue it was my fault. I just got back to troy this past week, and am ready to get things moving again. You have the puzzle above, I won't post the clue untill thursday, just to give you all time to give it a shot for full points! I apologize for my absences, but this puzzle forum must be finished, so let's get 'er done!!

Well guys, no answer so far. This means if nobody participates, our game will be over, and the top two prizes will be handed out to the participants early! Get in before it is too late!

Puzzle 5 - The Hint

The hint is this: any K&P endgame is winning, and the rook endgame could be drawn...maybe. if white does nothing, black's next move will be to play either ra3, or Rxf2, so how do you stop both?

Good Luck!

Well hello whoever's reading! We have finished after all have stopped sending in answers. The winner is...Nanobot16!!! Nice job nano! Second place is Dartmouth. Thank you all for playing. I will discuss more about what will happen in the next news segment.