Category: Puzzle

Simple But Elegant

Here is a nice game played in Round One of the Budapest 1896 tournament.  This game was won by Polish master Dawid Janowski, who at that time was an up and coming player.

First, the position which is White to play and win.  The solution is simple, but it’s very demonstrative of the inherent beauty which lies within the heart of every chess game.

Here is the entire game to enjoy!

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

If you like this blog, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter.  Any money I raise will go towards lessons and stronger tournaments.

If you can spare it, please click here and become a supporter.  Even $1 a month can help me achieve my dream.

Nice Tactic

These types of tactics have traditionally not been so easy for me to solve.  It all comes down to my board vision issue.

So hopefully the fact that I got this one very quickly is a sign that some work is starting to pay off!

Scroll down to the bottom for the solution.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

If you like this blog, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter.  Any money I raise will go towards lessons and stronger tournaments.

If you can spare it, please click here and become a supporter.  Even $1 a month can help me achieve my dream.

Solution: 1.Nb5+ cxb5 2.Nb7#

Tactics With a Grain of Salt

One thing that I think is important to remember when working on chess is that while things like accuracy do matter, it’s also important to take them with the occasional grain of salt.

For instance, look at this puzzle.

It’s white to move and it’s mate in two.

Now, the correct answer is at the bottom of the page below the Patreon info.  Scroll down when you would like to see it.

Now, when I initially solve the puzzle I solved it as 1.Rb3 g3 2.Rd3 (or lots of other third rank squares) g2 3.Rh3# (For some unknown reason my brain was saying this was a mate in four, not three…who knows why…)

So here’s the thing…technically my answer was “wrong” and would be considered a fail on any tactics app, etc.  But in reality since the entire line was forced it’s important to remember that this solution would work from a practical standpoint in a game.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott

If you like this blog, please consider becoming a Patreon supporter.  Any money I raise will go towards lessons and stronger tournaments.

If you can spare it, please click here and become a supporter.  Even $1 a month can help me achieve my dream.

1.Rb4 g3 2.Kf5#

Perfect, Save for One

As part of the Book Challenge I am currently working on the first of the ten volume Yusupov series.

I managed a perfect score on the first test save for this one position with Black to move.

Here I correctly found the first move, but then after White’s reply I missed the best continuation.

The game is listed between N.N. – Morphy so I’m assuming it’s likely from a simul or was some sort of odds game.  The position was not in my database, but I don’t have Megabase.

Highlight the text between the brackets for the solution.

[ 1…Ng3 is the first move, which I saw.  My thought process was that the knight can’t be taken since White’s queen would hang, and if White takes Black’s queen with 2.Qxh7 then 2…Nde2 mates.  However, what I missed was that after 2.Qxd4 Ne2+ 3.Kh1 the correct move is not to take the Queen with 3…Nxd4 but rather for Black to sac his queen with 3…Qxh7+ 4.Kxh7 Rh8+ ]

I’m still please with the first test’s overall results, but I will continue to strive for perfection.

Til Next Time,

Chris Wainscott