Problem Chess Art

by Frederic Friedel
7/21/2025 – Last week Problem expert Werner Keym gave us some remarkable chess problems to solve. They were from his latest eBook, Problem Chess Art, which is available to everyone, free of charge. Here today are the solutions of the problems he selected for us. Were you able to solve them?
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From Problem Chess Art

Here are the problems once again – with the diagram engines switched on (fan button):

No.20: Heinrich Meyer, 1903
White to mate in three
No.21: Wilhelm Massmann; 1935
White to mate in three
No.4: Leonid Kubbel, 1907
White to mate in two
No.27: Philip Williams; 1904
White to mate in three
No.31: Fritz Giegold, 1952
White to mate in three
No.38: Georg Ernst, 1911
White to mate in four
No.52: Herbert Grasemann, 1950
White to mate in four
No.46: Theodor Nissl, 1910
White to mate in six

Solutions

No.20: 1.Bg8! c2 2.Rf7 Ka2 3.Ra7#

No.21: The basic attack 1.Ne3? [threat: 2.Nf5#,Rg4#] is refuted by 1...Bd7! as well as 1.Ne7? [threat: 2.Nf5#, Ng6#] by 1...Bc2! So: 1.Rg2! [2.Ng6+ Kh5/Kh3 3.Ndf4#] 1...Bc2 2.Ne3 Bf5 3.N×f5# as well as 1...Be8 2.Ne7 Bg6 3.Ne×g6#.

No.4: 1.Qc6! 1... a6 2.Rxa6#; 1...a5 2.Ra6#; 1...a7xb6 2.Qa4#; 1...b7xc6 2.Rb8#; 1...c7xb6 2.Qxc8#; 1...Bxd7 2.Qxb7#.

No.27: 1.Kb2! a1Q+ 2.Rxa1 h1Q 3.Qxh1#

No.31: 1.Ra2! b3xa2 2.Bxa2 Kxg6 3.Bb1#

No.38: 1.Rg6! Kh7 2.Rg5 Kh6 3.Rg4 Kh5 4.Kg3#

No.52: 1.Qd5+! Kg1 2.Qh1+ Kxh1 3.Kf2 N any 4.Ng3#

No.46: 1.Bh4! Rd1 2.Bg3 Rc1 3.Bf4 Rc2 4.Bg5 Rc8 5.Bd2+ Rc3 6.Bxc3# or 4...B any 5.Bd8+ Rc7 6.Bxc7#

Here is a link to Werner Keym's eBook Chess Problem Art

Please tell us whether you enjoy solving problems like this on our live chess diagrams.

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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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Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 7/21/2025 09:34
I knew Kubbel's nice re-enactment of Marshall's golden coins move (against Lewitzky) and I liked Giegold's silent sacrifice at a2, where you think first of how to get the rook to h8 without stalemate.
However, both Grasemann's queen sacrifice and his introductory check move seem rather crude. Checks (certainly here) don't give black a chance to put up a fight. Okay, it's a miniature and it's 'easily understandable' (see Keym's Preface), but the two knights eyeing g3 give a bit more than a clue.
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