Chess for fun and entertainment

by Frederic Friedel
10/3/2023 – Chess is normally a battle between two intellects. But the game is so rich and multifaceted that it offers much more. For instance, you can create a wealth of imaginative studies and problems, positions that do not occur in regular games. They can be very profound, very difficult, but also highly entertaining! Here are three that will test your skill and imaginativeness in really fun ways.

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Puzzle 1

Mate in one

This is a clever little position. A minute or two will probably convince you that there is no plausible solution. The best way to find the required mate in one is to think – laterally!


Puzzle 2

White to play and mate in two

So many temptations! The badly exposed black king has a single flight square (e7), and White has all his its pieces pointed at the enemy king. In addition there are three white pawns that can promote to additional queens, rooks, bishops or knights.

Your task it is to find the forced mate in two. You can do this by executing trial white moves.  The diagram will defend for Black. Use your cursor keys to move back and try something else. The notation button below the board will display all the attempts you have made so far.

You will only be able to mate in two if you play one specific first move. All other moves will allow Black to defend. Another fun task: find out why all the other promising moves do not work. The diagram will help you figure everything out.


Now that you have been fooling around with potential pawn promotions, here is a problem where Black has four pawns ready to promote and join the fray.

Puzzle 3

White to play and win

It looks like Black has overwhelming forces – potentially multiple queens to help him hold the position – and in fact win. How can White overcome the defensive potential of the opponent to prevail? Here again it is your task to move the white pieces and overcome the resistance the diagram will come up with. Warning: it is not a short process. 

Full video solutions will be given in a few days.


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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