Some Chess Problems

Here are a few chess puzzles to help to improve your combinational abilities. The answers are available with analysis at the bottom of the page. The sequence of moves leading to the position is given below each diagram.

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1. White to play

1.e4 g6, 2.d4 Bg7, 3.Nf3 d6, 4.Bc4 Nd7,
 

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2. Black to play

1.d4 d5, 2.c4 e5, 3.de d4, 4.e3 Bb4, 5.Bd2 de, 6.BxB ef, 7.Ke2
 

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3. White to play

1.e4 e5. 2.Nf3 f6,
 

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4. Black to play

1.d4 d5, 2.c4 e6, 3.Nc3 Nf6, 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.cd ed, 6. NxP
 

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5. Black to play

1.d4 e5, 2.de Qe7, 3.Nf3 Nc6, 4.Bf4 Qb4,
5.Bd2 QxP 6.Bc3 Bb4, 7.Qd2
 

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6. White to play

1.e4 b6, 2.d4 Bb7, 3.Bd3 f5, 4.ef BxP,
 

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Solutions to problems

(1). 5. BxP+ (KxB, 6. Ng5 Kf6, 7. Qf3 checkmate).
(2). 7. ... PxN=N+, (8. RxN Bg4+, winning).
(3). 3. NxP (PxN?, 4. Qh5+ and now Ke7 allows a forced mate while g6 allows 5. QxP+ winning).
(4). 6. ... NxN, (7. BxQ Bb4+ winning).
(5). 7. ... BxB, (8. QxB Qc1 checkmate).
(6). 5. Qh5+ (g6, 6. PxP Nf6, 7. PxP+! NxQ, 8. Bg6 checkmate).
(Note that 5 of the moves were captures and 3 were checks. Such forcing moves are often at the centre of puzzles.)