Here are the answers to the Christmas Fun Puzzles…
Black to play and mate in 3.
Not too tricky if your eyes do not get boggled by all the pieces!
Black plays 1…Nxb5, 2…Nxd6 and 3…Nxf7 mate regardless of what White plays.
White to play and mate in 14.
Enjoy the journey!
The hint was “enjoy the journey”: you need to force the black king all the way to a1 and back again in order to get the rook and the bishop in the correct positions to deliver mate when Black promotes a pawn.
1.Bc5+ Kf1 2.Rf8+ Ke1 3.Bb4+ Kd1 4.Rd8+ Kc1 5.Ba3+ Kb1 6.Rb8+ Ka1 7.Bb2+ Kb1 8.Be5+ Kc1 9.Bf4+ Kd1 10.Rd8+ Ke1 11.Bg3+ Kf1 12.Rf8+ Kg1 13.Kh3 c1=Q or any other promotion 14.Bh2 mate
White to play and mate in 2.
A white king and a white bishop have been knocked off the board.
Put them back on the right squares to deliver the mate in 2.
Put the king on e2 and the bishop on f1.
The position is legal; Black’s last move was dxe1=Q+
White mates in 2 with 1.Kxe1 Re2 2.Bxe2 mate.
White to play and win.
Hint: 1.g7 is only a draw.
The winning line is 1.Rg7+! Kxh8 2.Rh7+! Kg8 (White has freed the h8 square for his rook) 3.g7 Ra8 4.Rh8+ Kxg7 5.Rxa8
White to play and mate in 2.
A white pawn has been knocked off the board.
Put it back on its right square to deliver the mate in 2.
Put the pawn on h2.
White delivers mate by 1.h4 gxh3 2.Bxg6 mate
White to play and mate in 3.
A pretty Christmas Tree puzzle!
1.Rexe4+ Kxf6 2.Reg7 (threatening 3.Rh6 mate) 2…Bh5 3.Rfxf5 mate
If 1…Kxd6 gives rise to the mirror solution 2.Rec7 (threatening 3.Rb6 mate) 2…Bb5 3.Rdxd5 mate.
White to play and win.
A normal chess study kindly sent in by Tony Pritchard. It’s quite tricky but very pretty!
This is a puzzle none of my engines could solve from the starting position, at least not after several minutes, but some could solve after the first 3 moves were completed. It is an example where an experienced problem solver can still beat an engine to the answer!
1.Bd2+ b4 2.Bxb4+ Kb5 3.Nd6+ Kb6
Now 4.Bc5+ is the obvious move but leads nowhere.
4.Ba5+! Kxa5 (4…Qxa5 5.Nc4+ winning) 5.Nc4+ Kb5 6.Kf4
Now the black king cannot move and the queen has no safe square. Pawn moves only delay the inevitable: Black is heading towards zugzwang, e.g.
6…c5 7.d5 f5 8.Kg5! f4 9.f3 zugzwang!
9…Qb7 (9…Qc8 10.Nd6+) 10.Nd6+ Kb6 11.Nxb7 +-
