Christmas Puzzles 2013 – solutions (1)

ChessBase Christmas Puzzles 2013 – solutions (1)

Our 2013 Christmas puzzles were supplied by multiple world champion solver John Nunn. They contained the a varied collection ranging from a mate in three to a seriesselfmate in nine. Apart from one tricky puzzle, the selection, with one exception, was fairly easy. You can review the problems by clicking on the above link or any of the images below, which will take you to specific problems.

December 25	December 26	December 27	December 28
December 29	December 30	December 31	January 1

Puzzle 1 – December 25, 2013

William Shinkman, Offiziers-Schachzeitung 1905

White to play and mate in three

Black’s king is stalemated so White’s first move must release the king. Please don’t use your engine to solve this. It will do so in an instant, but you will deprive yourself of the fun of finding the solution yourself. Come on, it’s only four pieces!

Puzzle 2 – December 26, 2013

Anatoly Styopochkin, Special Prize, 59th T.T. SuperProblem, 2012

White to play and selfmate in five.
a) Diagram position – b) Remove the pawn on f6

In a selfmate, White is trying to force Black to deliver mate, while Black is doing his best to avoid this. The above problem has two parts; in the second, just remove the pawn on f6 and again selfmate in five.

If it were Black to move he would be forced to give mate at once by ...fxe4#, but White has no waiting move. The idea here is to find a way to return to something like the initial position, but having wasted a tempo. There is a connection between the solutions to the two parts of the problem.

Puzzle 3 – December 27, 2013

M.Matouš, 1st Prize, Ceskoslovensky Sach 2005

White to play and win

The material balance is roughly equal, so White must pursue an attack. It’s important to know that two bishops always win against a knight except if there is an immediate draw for the knight. In endgame studies there is no 50-move rule, so you need not be concerned that a 2B vs N win might require more than 50 moves.

This study is by Mario Matous, the Czech study composer who died earlier this year. ChessBase already published an appreciation of him, but did not give this study, which is one of his simpler compositions.

Puzzle 4 – December 28, 2013

Viktoras Paliulionis, 1st Prize, Jubilee T. Ilievski-60, Orbit 2012

Helpmate in 6.5 – with set play

In a helpmate the two sides cooperate to help White mate Black. The stipulation means that there are two solutions to this problem. In the first solution, Black starts and White mates Black on his sixth move (so both White and Black make six moves). In the second solution White moves first and mates Black on his seventh move (so White plays seven moves and Black six).

You might wonder why the second solution cannot just be the first solution plus a White waiting move somewhere, but that’s part of the fun of the problem. Remember that both sides are playing to help White deliver mate, and good luck!

– Part two will follow soon –

Prize winners

Two winners will be chosen at random from all eligible submissions – we like to reward participation, not getting everything meticulously right. A third prize winner will be selected on the basis of the nicest message (in our opinion) that we receive. Closing date for all entries is January 15, 2014. Note that the arrival date will not influence the selection.

And the prizes? They will consist of the most recent ChessBase software, with autographs of top players – at least one a World Champion or ex. And one of the prizes will have a personal dedication and the signatures of all the participants of the 2014 Zurich Chess Challenge – if nothing comes in the way of us getting them. Definitely worth a shot at winning, don't you think?