3/31/2024 – In our second ChessBase Challenge instalment we gave you a set of puzzles that were meant to challenge your mind. Were you able to solve the positions, each with a mind-boggling idea required to reach the goal? You had two weeks to do so. Today we provide the solutions.
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Have you always wanted to play the Sicilian as Black, but been discouraged by the abundance of options for White? Here is the solution to becoming a lifelong successful Sicilian player!
As many readers pointed out in the comments, this was indeed a “more-mover” rather than a study, with the stipulation needing to be a mate in seven. Nevertheless, the idea of the composition can be seen where the white knight (starting from c1) makes a very long round-trip, to finally come to e2, a place where it could have reached four moves ago! The intention behind this is interesting, since Kh1 must be prevented and the quickest way to do that is to manoeuvre the knight to g3.
Here you can see all the moves the two white knights must make in order to trap the black king.
Puzzle 2
Richard Reti, 1922
White to play and win
Solution: 1.Nd4+ Kc5 2.Kh1!! Bf8 3.Ne6+ Kb5 4.Nxf8 1-0. Refutations after Black's other defensive moves are given in the replay window below.
A relatively famous study where Richard Reti’s main idea was to show the domination of the black bishop. Wherever the black bishop moves after 2. Kh1!, it will always be met by knight fork winning the piece! And of course, if Black was to take the white knight, the white pawn would evidently be unstoppable. Incredible, short and sweet study!
It is surprisingly hard to visualise, though there is no shocking move, as in the previous puzzle. 2.Ne5 is vital to block the e-file where 2…Re1 is met by the cunning fork of 3.Nf3+. It is particularly important to think about forks when there is a passed pawn present, but this study goes on to show how important it is to think of all the different ideas and tactics present!
In the original Reti study (1928) the White king was on b4 and the pawn on b3. This was "cooked" by Andrė Chėron. But he also tried to restore the study by placing the pawn on b2 and the White king on b3. The idea was good, but he was unable to get the execution right. In the end, it was left to Pal Benko to find the right solution. So here you have three great minds at work, Reti, Chėron and Benko! Here's the article by Pal Benko which inspired me.
All solutions in the Replay App
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1.Nf2+Kg12.Ng4Kh12...h1Q?3.Ne2#3.Na2‼A counter-intuitive move! The point is we want to be able to place the knight on g3 when Black plays Kh1-g1, forcing h2-h1 in the next move, which would then be met with Ng3-e2 mate. Obviously, 3.Ne2?? (intending Ng3) stalemates Black; hence, the knight has to cavort to its destination (g3) in a roundabout way via the edge of the board!Kg14.Nc3Kh14...h1Q?5.Ne2#5.Ne4Kg16.Ng3We have met our goal! Black’s only legal option here is to push h2-h1, and regardless of what Black promotes on h1, White mates.h1Q7.Ne2#
FM Claus Dieter Meyer has put under the microscope a comprehensive fund of topical and timeless games / fragments. On video Hamburg GM Dr. Karsten Müller has outlined corner points of Meyer's work and created 14 tests plus 10 interactive test sets.
Anirudh DagaAnirudh was born in Delhi, India, and now lives in Singapore. He is one of the world's most promising young problem composers, specializing in positions that are fascinating and unconventional. He became interested in chess composition after winning the Christmastide Solving Contest, at the age of twelve. Anirudh grew from strength to strength, competed at the World Chess Solving Championships, and composed numerous problems that have all found their due place in reputable problem magazines. It is his goal to spread the joy of chess composition and solving!
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
Focus on the Sicilian: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
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