3/21/2023 – The series of open national competitions for the World Solving Cup 2022/23 continued this month, with events in Poland and the Netherlands. Kacper Piorun won the Polish competition, while Nikos Sidiropoulos (Greece) was the winner in the Dutch event. In Poland, eight minutes decided the winner; in the Netherlands, one subtle endgame study made the difference.

2/27/2023 – The 44th Finnish Championship in solving took place in the Chess Arena in Helsinki. In the close contest for the top honours, five solvers managed to score more than 50 points. Dutch GM solver Dolf Wissmann missed only 1.5 points and emerged as a deserved winner, ahead of two other GMs, Martynas Limontas of Lithuania and Jorma Paavilainen of Finland, who shared the second place. | Photos: Hannu Harkola

1/26/2023 – As the traditional introduction to a new solving season, the 19th International Solving Contest (ISC) will be held this Sunday, January 29. A set of chess problems will be simultaneously offered to more than 500 solvers around the world at 11 AM CET. The ISC hybrid solving competition is becoming increasingly popular since it allows enthusiasts from many countries to participate without extra costs. In 2023, the ISC will reach 42 locations in 26 different countries.

11/27/2021 – Richard Kenneth Guy was a British mathematician, with a passion for chess. Siegfried Hornecker's "Study of the Month" is all about this great "Guy", his life, and his studies. The professor of mathematics, who composed almost 200 endgame studies for the "British Chess Magazine", died last year at the age of 103. | Photo: Wikipedia

10/30/2021 – Halloween is near — and inspired Siegfried Hornecker to search for compositions and studies that are suitable to this time of the year. After all, a good endgame study doesn't ask "Trick or treat?" but rather offers both. Enjoy!

5/17/2021 – For many chess players, chess problems just look bizarre: the pieces on the board often seem to be randomly placed and the positions appear to to be utterly removed from anything that can happen in a practical game. However, solving chess problems can be fun - if you know how to approach them. Vlaicu Crisan has some advice.

9/21/2020 – Last week we gave you a series of chess problems which cannot be solved by computers, taken from a book called "Outrageous Chess" by Burt Hochberg. Were you able to find the out-of-the-box answers? And do you like this kind of problem? In any case, today we reveal the correct solutions and explain the ideas behind the problems.

4/4/2020 – Are you 27 years old or younger? Then you can take part in a competiton run by "Schwalbe", the German society for problem chess – on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the "German Chess Youth". You get ten (actually very delightful) problems to solve. You mail your answers to the supervisor of the competition, and can win one of many prizes. Comments are welcome. In any case the problems are lots of fun.

10/7/2019 – Problem solving is a challenging field, with young participants generally dominating. There is one exception. Year after year a British mathematician, grandmaster and chess writer gives the strongest and brightest a run for their money. This year 64-year-old John Nunn finished a close second, and reported on this success. Today he presents, in his own inimitable style, the solutions to seven of the problems he had to solve at the 43rd World Chess Solving Championship in Vilnius. Our picture shows John Nunn winning the silver medal at the WCCC2019 in Vilnius and composing a chess problem, in the mid 1980s.

7/8/2019 – This is one of the most elegant chess problems we have ever seen. It was composed by the master, Pal Benko when he was just fifteen. Five pieces, four on their original squares, and the task is to force mate in three moves. That is quite difficult: Bobby Fischer failed to find the solution in half an hour. Can you do better – and can you find a correction for the minor dual that was found in the problem? You can win a nice prize if you do.

10/18/2018 – Some weeks ago the World Chess Problem Solving Championship took place in Ohrid, a beautiful lakeside town in Macedonia. Mathematician and grandmaster JOHN NUNN, 63 years of age, did extremely well, winning the Open section. In his report John provided us with a sample of six problems, which showed us what the participants had to go through. Today he provides the solutions, explained in his unmatched style of unravelling complex chess ideas.

10/9/2018 – Chess is not only about games and analysis, about wins and losses. It can also be deeply entertaining. And there are authors who have specialized on this aspect of our game. Foremost among them is the Dutch journalist and novelist Tim Krabbé, himself a very strong chess player, who has devoted a lifetime to collecting curiosities in the game. We have been enjoying his writing for more than three decades. For those who are not even that old here a beautifully poignant example from Tim's collection.

9/26/2018 – In a deeply thought-out and specific proposal, IM JAN PRZEWOZNIK provides a method to train the way we think while playing a chess game. He unveils nine indicators that push us to reflect on our decisions and interprets them in terms of problem-solving cognitive strategies. In Part 1, we presented an introduction and the first three indicators; now we follow with the final six and an explanation of the "Chunking Theory".

9/23/2018 – It is a highly challenging discipline, with the top places generally going to the younger participants. But year after year a British mathematician, grandmaster and chess writer competes, successfully, with the strongest and brightest. This year the World Championship in problem-solving was held in a beautiful lakeside town in Macedonia, and once again 63-year-old JOHN NUNN did extremely well. In his report, he gives us some examples of the tasks that he faced. | Pictured: winners in the individual event, Kacper Piorun, Piotr Murdzia and Tomáš Peitl | Photo: Franziska Iseli

7/15/2018 – On his 90th birthday, which we celebrated with a major biographical article earlier today, we add to the congratulations: Happy 90th, Pal, please stay with us as long as you can, and remain as incredibly creative as you still are. It is also appropriate to present our readers with the solutions to Benko's record-breaking twin problems, which turned out to be harder than expected.

7/7/2018 – In problem chess "twins" are two or more problems, normally composed by a single author, that are slight variations of each other. This is usually brought about by moveing pieces slightly or subtly, or adding, removing or exchanging a piece. Sometimes the position is moved to another location on the board. The solutions should be different. Now our dear and faithful friend Pal Benkö has sent us a record-setting eleven twins. Have fun solving these unique problems. | Photo: Diana Mihajlova

4/14/2018 – Chess players are very practical, result-oriented. They do feel satisfaction when they manage to produce a stunning combination or an imaginative opening novelty, but beauty is not a goal per itself. They are looking for strong, practical moves, ones that lead to victory in the game. Beauty is an ancillary factor. But it is a major goal for composers of chess problems and studies, as the Israeli problemist explains in part two of his article.

4/11/2018 – A lot of chess writing is devoted to the thought process of players. Chess coaches direct their students to look for good, healthy, strong moves – not to search for beautiful ones. Problemists are quite different. For them beauty is a major goal. Composers search for extraordinary positions, which will bring the Aha! or OMG effect. In CHESS Magazine the well-known Israeli problemist examines some of the characteristics which separate those who play from those who compose and solve studies and problems.

2/15/2018 – Solving endgame studies is a highly recommended method of making you a much more creative player by improving your endgame understanding, sharpening your tactical sense and calculative skills, equipping you with a whole arsenal of conventional as well as out of the box weapons. Yet first and foremost it is a great fun provided you face human and friendly challenges and keep your silicon monsters switched off for a change. | Pictured: The winner, GM Twan Burg (left) & IM P.Peelen | Photo: Harry Gielen

10/2/2017 – Inspired by the image of endgame expert Alexey Troitzky sitting in a Siberian forest, analyzing night after night whether king plus four knights can always beat king plus queen, Prof Azlan Iqbal set his AI composer Chesthetica on finding a nice 4N-Q chess problem. It took his program a week, and the result was deemed not aesthetically perfect. So we issued a challenge to our readers: come up with a better problem of four knights vs queen. Here are the results.

9/25/2017 – In his report on the Problem Solving event in Dresden, Germany, John Nunn gave you eight problems to solve. A few days ago he showed you of the first four. Today the last four are explained, in John's inimitable style. Play through the solutions and read his comments — this will give you a unique insight into the entertaining and challenging field of chess problems. | Photo: Franziska Iseli

9/24/2017 – This Problem Solving event took place in Dresden, Germany, in early August. We reported extensively on it and gave you eight problems from the Championship to solve. Not an easy task, as most of them required some experience in this entertaining and challenging field. Today we give you the solutions of the first four problems, wonderfully annotated by top problem solver Dr John Nunn. The remaining four solutions will follow later this week. Learn and enjoy! | Photo: Franziska Iseli

9/10/2017 – Dresden has become a hotbed of chess activity. This year the East German city hosted the World Chess Solving Championship, which has grown from 18 participants in its inaugural event 40 years ago to 89 solvers in this year. John Nunn, who has been an avid and successful competitor in the past, took a number of medals in Dresden, and sent us an interesting report, with selected problems for you to solve. | Photos: Franziska Iseli

9/8/2017 – It is a seven-piece ending over which Troitzky once toiled. In the meantime endgame databases have mastered it and can solve billions of non-trivial positions, each in an instant. But can a computer program be taught to generate interesting studies or problems with the given material? KI researcher Dr Azlan Iqbal has instructed his software to try, and it has produced a mate-in-five. We ask our readers: can you do better?