12/25/2023 – For two decades we ended each year with traditional Christmas puzzles – here are some of the best from the early years. Many of our younger readers will not have seen them – remember, some of them were not born when we started. For others it will hopefully bring back nostalgic memories. And perhaps some additional joy on the big festive day. From today until January 1st 2024 we revive the tradition, with new contributors who will hopefully maintain it in the decades to come.

1/12/2020 – Last year we rivived our twenty-year tradition of giving you unusual puzzles for the Christmas holidays — puzzles that cannot be easily solved with a computer (the point of this endeavour), tasks which require you to think all by yourself. Sadly the greatest problematist, Pál Benkö, who faithfully contributed to this endeavour, could only make one contribution, for Christmas day, before passing (at 91 last August). We hope you enjoyed the puzzles and were able to solve some yourself.

12/29/2019 – When grappling with a challenging chess puzzle, there's often the temptation to feed it to a chess engine to a little help. For today's puzzles, that's not an option. Emeritus Editor FREDERIC FRIEDEL has selected problems by Dr Karl Fabel and Thomas Rayner Dawson, "the father of Fairy Chess". Not sure what that means? Read on!

12/27/2019 – During the Christmas puzzle week we normally strive to bring you puzzles that cannot be solved by simply pressing some key on your computer. But here I would like to simply tell you a story of how ancient, well-known problems can electrify budding young chess players. In the board position shown, it's White to play and draw!

12/26/2019 – Christmas Puzzle week, which we bring you for the twentieth year in succession, is time for unusual and entertaining puzzles — tasks that are not amenable to computer assistance, but require human ingenuity. Try, for instance, to imagine how the position in the picture could have possibly arisen. Determining that needs lateral thinking. One of the foremost composers of chess problems "out of the box" sent us some highly entertaining examples. At least one of them looks quite impossible. Merry Boxing Day!

12/25/2019 – Every year Pal Benko, grandmaster, former World Championship candidate, and one of the best problem composers in the world, sent us some very special seasonal greetings. They came in the form of chess problems for our readers. Just weeks before his death (at 91 last August) Pal started working on this year's Christmas puzzles. Unfortunately he was only able to suggest the first one, for Christmas Day. It is a problem by Sam Loyd and was supposed to fool our readers (Pal retained his humour and mischievous nature to the end). We share this puzzle with you today.

12/31/2018 – It is another entertaining type of chess problems. The point of retro is you must consider the moves that led up to the given position. They are often quite difficult to guess – you have to think out of the box. We are not going to slay our doubtlessly inexperienced readers with complex retrograde analysis, but instead show you a number of fairly simple examples, some of which will still have you frowning in puzzlement. One thing for sure: they are all very entertaining.

1/25/2018 – Every year Pal Benko, grandmaster, former World Championship candidate, and one of the best problem composers in the world, sends our readers very special seasonal greetings. They come in the form of chess problems in which the pieces represent figures — this time a Christmas tree and candles. This year it was seven problems, one shaped like a tree and six like candles. Here the solutions — and some new and amusing problems to tickle your mind. | Photo of Benko: Diana Mihailova

12/25/2017 – Every year Pal Benko, grandmaster, former World Championship candidate, and one of the best problem composers in the world, sends our readers very special seasonal greetings. They come in the form of chess problems in which the pieces represent figures – this time a Christmas tree and candles. It is the start of our Christmas puzzle week, which we bring you for the eighteenth year in succession. Prepare for puzzles that cannot be easily solved with a computer, tasks which require you to think all by yourself. And a nostalgic look to the past.

4/30/2016 – Over Christmas we had an interesting problem: say you have found some moves somewhere, in coordinate notation without piece names – is it possible to reconstruct the original supposedly meaningful position to which they apply? Later the author, who has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, presented a second puzzle, and the winner gets a valuable prize.

2/24/2016 – Over Christmas we showed you an interesting problem: say you have found some moves somewhere, in coordinate notation without piece names – is it possible to reconstruct the original supposedly meaningful position to which they apply? The author, who has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, tried to do it, but with modest success. A reader presented a more plausible solution and won a valuable prize

1/8/2016 – QM3: A game ends with the move 6...Nf1 mate – find moves that achieve this. That was our New Year's Puzzle. Solutions were sent in from around the globe – hundreds in all. Many letters were quite interesting, so we bring you a substantial selection. One of them has won the historic prize. Finally the coin problem by John Nunn: the solution is a five-second eight-word sentence that any ten-year-old can understand.

1/2/2016 – First of all a very Happy New Year to all our faithful readers, and best wishes for happiness and success in the year 2016. To celebrate and to close our Christmas puzzle week we bring you a final problem, one that is easy to formulate but is seriously difficult to solve. This is your chance to compete with some of the world's strongest players and problem experts. And to win a prize with historical significance.

12/31/2015 – In 1999, in the very first installment, we gave you a proof game problem as a Christmas puzzle, one that has occupied generations of chess players. Such problems require a great deal of lateral thinking, and are not readily accessible to computer analysis. This month we nostalgically reconnected with an old friend (from the previous millennium) who specializes in such problems. Have fun with Stuart Rachels' quick mates.

12/30/2015 – This year was the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Musing over the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, three years before, Pal Benko found a well-known chess problem that reflects the retreat of the French forces and the attacks by Cossack Hussards. It was composed by Alexander Petrov in 1824, but is somewhat flawed. Our problemist friend could not resist improving on it.

12/29/2015 – Here's an interesting problem: say you have found some moves somewhere, in coordinate notation without piece names – e.g. 1.h7g5 d8g5 2.b5d5 d1c2 etc. Can one reconstruct the original supposedly meaningful position to which they apply? Azlan Iqbal, who has a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence, retraces his thought processes when he tried, in this unique exercise in forensic chess. Help him and you can win a special prize.

12/28/2015 – In our previous puzzle article we showed you a complex endgame which Garry Kasparov had shown a young chess prodigy. The former World Champion also explained a number of important endgame concepts to the lad, who went on to annotate the game for us. If you go through his notes carefully you will learn quite a bit about chess endings and tempos. Don't miss it – it will add some Elo points to your rating!

12/27/2015 – In the previous installment we showed you a study that Garry Kasparov gave to a ten-year-old prodigy to solve – in his mind. Today we bring you the solution and tell you how 2600+ GMs fared with the same task. And then there is a second study which Garry gave the lad to solve, one that will help you understand some important principles and improve your calculation skills.

12/26/2015 – Yesterday, on Christmas day, we showed you a talent test we have been conducting for years; decades almost; with young chess prodigies. The initial position had six pieces on the board and was fairly easy to solve. But shifting the white king to a different square made it really hard. Today we bring you the solution and tell you how our prodigies fared with it. And give you a new talent test, provided by Garry Kasparov.

12/25/2015 – Another year passes, with more chess than ever before. As always we end the year with our traditional Christmas puzzles – this year for the sixteenth time. We start the week with a simple talent test we have been using for decades and recently revived with young players. Some may know it already, but those who don't will see if they can match the brightest young talent we have today.

2/1/2015 – On the first day of the year we give you four puzzles for a New Year 2015 think fest – and three weeks for you to work on them. As usual there was brisk participation with obvious enjoyment on the part of our readers. Today we present the solutions and announce the prize winners. They get ChessBase software with personalized dedications from some seriously strong players. Did you win?

1/25/2015 – Today is the final day to submit your solutions to 2015 New Year's Puzzle Contest. To get you in the mood we show you the final twelve solutions to our Christmas puzzles, which we published in the week from December 25–31, 2014. Some are deep and quite stunning, the ones from the December 31 "Curious Chess" section are just entertaining. We wish you a fine Sunday of problem solving.

1/22/2015 – In the week from December 25–31 2014 we presented our traditional Christmas puzzles, and on the 1st of January our 2015 New Year's Puzzle Contest. The closing date for submission of solutions to the latter was set at January 21, 2015. We are extending this to Sunday the 25th. In the meantime you may be interested to see part one of the solutions to the Christmas Week's puzzles.

1/1/2015 – In the last week of 2014, as every year, we celebrated a week of chess puzzles, this year drawing from problems and studies we had published fifteen years ago. Today we give you four puzzles that are part of our New Year 2015 contest. You have three weeks to work on them, and there are valuable prizes to win. For today we wish all our readers a Happy New Year!