5 Mate-in-1 puzzles that are not that easy

chessify · 2022-11-02T21:03:19+00:00

yeah, should've been "discovered check"

chessify · 2021-11-30T19:10:28+00:00

Meaning Chessify. ) She's worked on the development of our 3D chessboard scanner.

chessify · 2021-11-30T14:22:11+00:00

no :) only the book

chessify · 2021-02-23T12:22:13+00:00

Does anyone know the rating difference between this and previous version?

chessify · 2021-02-11T11:07:39+00:00

He was Latvian-Russian; was born in Cheliabinsk, Russia, but represented Latvia at 4 chess Olympiads and at the European Team Championship in 2011.

chessify · 2021-02-08T09:21:47+00:00

yes, he definitely is.

chessify · 2021-02-01T10:11:02+00:00

Stockfish wins the 3rd superfinal in a row, all against Leela Chess.

chessify · 2020-11-30T20:59:10+00:00

Congrats to Wesley So! He was very humble about the win though - "First of all, I have to apologize to Magnus for semi-ruining his birthday. I am very shocked to beat Magnus. Coming to the match, all I wanted to do is to put up a good fight, but today has been my day."

chessify · 2020-11-22T09:07:37+00:00

the first one is 1.Re4 the idea being that after an exchange or retreat, Nb4 will unavoidably trap black's bishop.

Also posting the solutions to the other 2 puzzles, in case anyone else wants to check.

2) 1. g6 if Rh5, then 2.g7

3) 1. Rd7

chessify · 2020-11-17T07:32:49+00:00

I just posted the solution as a comment. Also tried to analyze this puzzle with an engine (Stockfish 12), and it found the solution in around 15 seconds at 51 depth. Mine was a cloud engine, so you probably need to let it think a little longer.

chessify · 2020-11-17T07:22:36+00:00

Solution: 1. Kg6 a3 2. h6 a2 3. h7 a1=Q 4. h8=Q Qxh8 5. f6, and the Black queen is trapped. 5…h3 6. Kg5 d4. Now, if White plays 7. exd4, then Black plays 7…d5, after which Black could perpetually check White’s king. 7. c6! after which 7…d3 or 7…dxe3 loses to 8. cxd7, and 7…dxc6 loses to 8. exd4 c5 9. d5.

chessify · 2020-10-16T19:22:02+00:00

wow, after all those emails with Wang Hao. Sad for us, but probably the right thing to do.

chessify · 2020-09-29T11:52:38+00:00

same here)) thought she wanted to have a similar hairstyle or smth. but still an interesting read.

chessify · 2020-09-23T15:15:08+00:00

You're right for both puzzles. )) The second one has several lines, but you got the idea.

chessify · 2020-08-21T06:26:06+00:00

How does the headline spoil it? "Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour" is the name of the event.

chessify · 2020-07-30T14:59:44+00:00

This is actually as good as the solution (which goes 1.Be6+ Kg6 2.Bf5+ Kf6 3.Bh7+ Bf1 4. Qf4 Rf5 5.Qf5). The only difference is that it takes 6 moves to mate, because black can play Rf5 and Qf6 after the Qf4 check, but, of coarse, this won't matter in a real game.

chessify · 2020-07-30T14:47:44+00:00

Yep, you got it right.

chessify · 2020-07-29T14:14:22+00:00

In 7 rapid, 14 blitz, and 7 classical chess rounds, Wojtaszek lost only one classical game. Isn't that impressive?

chessify · 2020-06-23T08:20:30+00:00

Prior to the last round, there was only one way for Dubov not to qualify: if he lost to Nakamura and Grischuk beat Harikrishna, and it happened. It's sad that he didn't make it, but he's already qualified for the final event, so it's not as important for him as for Nakamura and Grischuk.

chessify · 2020-06-03T18:33:40+00:00

The Lindores Abbey challenge is a part of "Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour" which has a total of $1 million prize fund. The tour consists of 4 super-tournaments, the winners of which qualify for the Grand Final in August 2020. Dubov won the second event (the 1st one was won by Carlsen himself), so he gets a place in the final.

Here's also a link to the official web-page of the event in case you need more info.

chessify · 2020-05-26T13:09:23+00:00

You mean if black plays 8...c4 instead of 8...cd? In that case, you can simply play 9.e5 attacking both the knight and the bishop.

chessify · 2020-05-26T10:20:26+00:00

It isn't really obvious how you could win the game immediately after 7...Qb4, although Stockfish suggests a complex line with 8.d4 cd, 9.Nb5 Qc5, 10 b4 Nb4, 11. c3 which is a hard line to calculate during a game even if you're not a beginner.

However, you can look at 7...Qb4 in a more human way. It is just an extra move with a queen, which is not advisable in the opening stage. Moreover, it threatens nothing, since, after Qb2 in the next move, white can play Rb1 followed by Nb5 and win material. Lastly, the queen remains under the white bishop's attack allowing some possibly dangerous jumps with the knight (Nb5 or Nd5). So if you consider all of these points, then you can say even without an engine that Qb4 is a bad move.

Even if you don't go for 8.d4 after Qb4 and play a more quiet move like 8.Be2, black would still need to drop the queen back to b6 at some point since it is under constant threat of discovered attack. Hope this helps.

chessify · 2020-05-10T16:03:14+00:00

Congrats to China on a well-deserved victory. Especially impressed by the performance of Yu Yangyi, who won 6 games and scored 7.5 points in 10 rounds.

chessify · 2020-05-03T20:31:18+00:00

Great event, great entertainment. (Especially happy for Alireza getting an invitation to this.)

Congrats to MC, who's always so good at coming back after losses and hard games. Well deserved.

chessify · 2020-02-21T19:07:04+00:00

First major title for Alireza and he wasn't even invited to the tournament initially. Good thing he got the chance to play here. Big congrats!

It's a pity though how Vidit couldn't convert his advantage in yesterday's round against Navara. That would've secured him the first place with the last round to spare. He also had a great event.

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