ChessBase Puzzle Challenge - 01

by Frederic Friedel
3/11/2024 – Chess is a fun game – ask the countless millions who play it. But apart from the contest at the board, there are additional forms for you to enjoy, like chess puzzles and studies. Many of them defy the imagination. Today we start a new column, and have three deceptively simple – but enchanting – examples for you to solve. The sources and solutions will be provided in a week. Until then, have fun working things out all by yourself.

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ChessBase Puzzle Challenge – 01

We start with three wonderful little puzzles for you to solve. You probably know that you can move the pieces on the diagrams below. For the first two we have switched on an engine to defend for Black. You must find the correct strategy to achieve your goal. You can take back moves with the cursor keys of your computer, and try different lines. The notation button below the diagram will show you the lines you have entered so far. Clicking on a move will jump to the corresponding position.


First Puzzle

This is the second part of a famous study. Your task is to find the only moves that White must play in order to win. Every incorrect move will be firmly refuted by the live diagram. Can you find the solution – maybe even just looking at the position, before moving the pieces? Hint: you will want to go for mate and use zugzwang.


Second Puzzle

This is an amazing position, with even engines having serious problems finding the first move – the only one to secure a win. This is because in the course of the solution there are a number of strategic considerations which are required. Can you find the moves that lead to a forced win – actually a mate – for White? The diagram will defend resolutely...


Third Puzzle

This is a truly mind-bending problem, composed by one of the greatest, almost a century ago. The problem for White are the double black pawns which he is unable to stop. We will probably want to start with a bishop check, after which we must force the black king on the e-file, in order to play Re4+, which allows us to capture both pawns. Looks easy enough, except for the stalemate traps Black will spring.

For this puzzle we have switched off the diagram engine completely. You must work out everything all by yourself, moving the pieces for both sides, with no Elo 3000+ assistant telling you what to do or where you have gone wrong. Chapeau if you succeed!


The source of the problems and their solutions, with full video explanations, will be given in next week's instalment of our Puzzle Challenge. Naturally we ask you, very earnestly, not to post any solutions in the feedback section below. That would spoil the fun for readers who are still searching for the right strategies. Instead, tell us, generally, if you enjoyed the challenge the puzzles presented, if you were able to solve them, how long it took you, and whether you want more of the same.

You can write directly to the editors of the Puzzle Challenge series, describing your solving process and thoughts on the solutions. We reserve the right to quote from your message. 

Please submit your solution feedback here.


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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