Retractors – taking back moves

By Werner Keym

When snooping around for unusual problems, there is no better place to look than in the works of Thomas Rayner Dawson. He graduated from the University of Leeds with a first-class honours degree in 1913 and worked in the Research Association of British Rubber Manufacturers.

Dawson, who lived from 1889 to 1951, was a chemist, but also an avid chess composer. He was the founder-editor of The Problemist (1922–1931) and also edited the problem pages of The British Chess Magazine (1931–1951). He himself composed over 6000 problems, many of them unusual and witty. Like the following famous problem, which we are offering you in our Christmas Puzzle Week – with apologies if you have seen it before:

2025 Christmas Puzzle 8

Thomas R. Dawson, Chess Amateur 1920

White retracts his last move and delivers a mate in two

Question: what move could White possibly retract to get a position in which he can mate in two moves. Naturally, he must adhere to all laws of chess, and all problem chess conventions.

2025 Christmas Puzzle 9

And now twin retractors by Zvi Roth 1970 in Al. Hamishmar 1970:

In each case, White retracts one move and then mates in one. Note that the second diagram is a 180° rotation of the first – and is fiendishly difficult. Congratulations if you solve it!

Zvi Roth is a chess problemist, born 1952 in Australia. He grew up in Israel and lives in Jerusalem, studied physics and computer science. 

Zvi is known especially for two-move problems (twomovers) and fairy/variant problems (examples include Kamikaze and other fairy conditions). His problems appear in specialist magazines and tourneys rather than mainstream chess columns. He had prizewinning entries in international problem tourneys, with problems published in feenschach, Die Schwalbe, as well as in various Belgrade festival booklets and theme collections.

2025 Christmas Puzzle 10

Can eight white pieces (K, Q, R, R, B, B, N, N) guard all 64 squares of the chessboard?

Now whip out your chess board and set (they are in the cupboard somewhere) and try to construct a position in which every square of the board is attacked. No pawns, of course.

Please do not post any solutions in our feedback section below. Let other readers enjoy the problems. Please submit your solution feedback here.  We will reveal the solutions to all Christmas Puzzle in the first week of January 2026.