White to move and checkmate in 4. No computer please 🙂
5B2/5p2/4pP2/3pPB2/2pP4/1pP5/pP6/k1K5 w – – 0 1
Daily Chess Improvement: Mate in 4!
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White to move and checkmate in 4. No computer please 🙂
5B2/5p2/4pP2/3pPB2/2pP4/1pP5/pP6/k1K5 w – – 0 1
1. Bc2 bxc2
2. b3 cxb3
3. Ba3 b2
4. Bxb2#
Great exercise in thinking backwards! If only the WB were on b2, this would be mate. Can’t play Ba3-Bb2 because of the pawn on b2, which can’t move because of the pawn on b3. Now how do we get the pawn on b3 to move away? It’s amusing how Black stays in Zugzwang throughout and can only make the moves white wants.
Yes, it opens the mind to imagining positions proactively in all situations.
An old puzzle- was posted twice in 2013 according to my notes. It appears the administrator has finally stopped posting the old comments, too. Thank you!
I really liked the idea of the bishop moving in front of successive pawns to force them to capture, and although I didn’t manage to solve that problem at least it helped me with this one.
I was sort of half intending to go back and try to solve the endgame puzzles that I skipped over later.
Retrograde analysis puzzles are fun and conventional chess puzzles are fun so why not have two in one retrograde and conventional puzzles?
After 1…bc2 2. b3 and b4! Dual.
Yes, the bishop might as well start at b4 but it’s only a fun puzzle with extra pawns anyway.
After 1…bc2 2. b3 and b4! Dual.
Bosko Miloseski
I have a special fondness for this puzzle, it was probably the first composed position I was ever exposed to. I was about 8 or 9 and I remember being so excited when I found 1. Bc2! and 2. b3! after much scratching of the head.