Chess for fun and entertainment

by Frederic Friedel
10/6/2023 – A few days ago, we presented you with a set of unusual and interesting positions. They are clever and somewhat difficult to solve. But all of them are fun. Today you get the solutions, presented in a way that is particularly easy to follow. You do not have to be a champion player or problem expert to follow.
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Before we start, here are the puzzle as presented a couple of days ago. If you missed them you are welcome to go there and try to solve them – on our interactive diagrams, which will defend for Black. You have to find the only path to achieving the requirement of the problems.

And now:

Here are the puzzle with their solutions

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How could this position arise? Clearly the last move must have been by White, so it is Black to move. And this is the solution: 1...Kxc7+ Or: 1...Kxa7+ 2.b8N# 2.bxa8N#
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gserper-Mate in one-
Tane,U-Mate in two- Chess for Entertainment
Birnov,Z-White to play and win-1939Chess for Entertainment
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Note that in puzzle two the author is given as on this page. We are told (e.g. by Edward Winter in Chess Notes 4339) that "Ua Tane" was a Polynesian pseudonym for James Frank Stimson  (1883-1959), a renowned American chess problem composer. He composed over 1,000 chess problems, of which about 200 were awarded prizes. He was also a prolific chess writer and editor. Reader Marjan Kovacevic tells us it took Stimson weeks and months to create.

The following video descriptions of the problems were made by Frank Scarpa and appeared on his Youtube channel Chess for Charity. Frank's declared goal is to spread the amazing game of chess while helping those in need. Half of all income earned on YouTube goes directly to charity.

Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.

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