Questions tagged [problems]
Chess problems consist of a board position and a task. Most ask for a line of play that mates black in a set amount of moves, or a combination that results in a winning position. Many other types exist, including, but not limited to, construction tasks for various positions and proof games that have numerous goals, selfmates, helpmates, and retrograde analysis. Tournaments and championships exist for composing of original problems and for speed-solving.
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Trying to locate an old problem
A friend of mine showed me a great white-to-mate-in-three puzzle back in the late '50s or early '60s. Unfortunately he doesn't recall it. I can remember a few things: It was composed by someone from ...
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Another problem - Find color of the pieces
Please help me to find the solution of this next problem by the legendary composer Andrej Kornilow. It appeared in Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsiya 41 issue in 2001 and it was dedicated to A. Lobusow on his ...
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Is there retrograde analysis puzzle like "Point on the incorrectly drawn chess piece"?
Does anybody know a nice chess puzzle, where question states: "Exactly one piece is drawn incorrectly on this diagram, another piece must be drawn on it's position. Find incorrectly drawn piece."? One ...
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Longest forced sequence that ends with checkmate and every move is a check
What is the longest move sequence that ends with checkmate and every move is a check by both players?
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Maximum number of non-pawn pieces on the board
In a reachable game, what is the maximum sum of queens, rooks, bishops, knights, and kings on the board?
For queens only, see Maximum number of queens possible
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Problem: Find White's second-to-last move
For the following position to occur in legal play, with Black on move, what would White's second-to-last move need to have been? Note that Black is checked by two pieces on the h1-h8 file and two ...
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A cool problem by Godfrey Heathcote
I didn't get a thought of a better title :)
I am trying to solve a problem which is white to move and mate in 2 moves.
To be frank, I am not asking all problems here. On my own I solved more than 50 ...
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Another chess problem
The below puzzle White to mate in two moves. I tried all combinations. I can't figure it out how to solve this? I am starting to think this as a bug in my mobile application which is showing wrong ...
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Need help to solve a puzzle
I have been trying to solve the below chess puzzle for more than 2 days. Can someone help me to solve it?
White to play and mate in two moves
[FEN "n1N1Kn/2p/P1k/2p1Q/P/2P/7B/6Nq w - - 0 1"]
I have ...
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What is the longest non-cyclic forced sequence of moves? [duplicate]
I am looking for positions from where every move is forced up to a certain depth. If the original position (or one in between) occurs again, the sequence is finished there.
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Longest sequence of mutually forced moves
In this position, the black move 1. ... Qc3 results in two consecutive forced moves, Kxc3 and Ke7:
2rkr3/2p5/2q5/8/8/8/3KP3/3R4 b - - 0 1
1... Qc3 2. Kxc3 Ke7
What is the longest sequence of ...
user2659
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Is it possible to have a double self-smothered stalemate?
I came up with this rather amusing and bizarre stalemate where Black stalemates itself by self-smothering.
[FEN "8/8/8/8/8/3p4/pp6/krb1K3 b - - 0 1"]
1...d2+?? 2. Kd1
The peculiar feature of ...
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Is there a computer program that generates quality chess problems?
Is there a chess engine that automatically generates quality chess problems. For example I will input 3 - it produces a mate in 3 problem. But the problem shouldn't be so obvious that one can solve in ...
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Maximum possible movement in a turn
I've read that for any position, there are on average approximately 35 possible moves. But what's the maximum number of possible moves for a position?
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Help needed with a chess dilemma
How can I get a checkmate in three moves?
[FEN "8/2R5/1B1k4/2R5/3N4/1K6/3p4/8 w - - 0 1"]
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A chess problem question: Why is this the solution?
[FEN "5B2/3p1n2/R2p4/1P1NRBQ1/1KPkrb2/1p6/2Pp1Pn1/4r3 w - - 0 1"]
1. Nc7! Rxe5 (1... Nxg5) (1... d1=Q) 2.c3#
What would make you play Nc7? This results in checkmate in 2 if, as the ...
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What is happening in this problem?
I recently solved a problem chess.com and it is below. What I don't understand is that why black moved its rook to h8 (1...Rh8). I think that black's position would have been better if it was ...
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What is the shortest possible game with 18 queens?
This question demonstrates a game in which all 16 pawns promote for a total of 18 queens on the board. It takes 80 moves...
What is the shortest sequence of moves that achieves this goal?
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Maximum number of queens possible
I was thinking about what the maximum number of queens can be on the board after only legal moves. The theoretical upper bound would be 18, the original 2 queens plus 16 promoted pawns.
However, to ...
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Problem: reconstruct the game
In the following position, each side has made exactly 4 moves (8 in total).
[fen "rnbqkbnr/pp3ppp/2p1p3/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 0 1"]
I need to find what these moves were.
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Studies that have been cooked by computers
A study is unlike a regular chess problem. Instead of "mate in 3" (for instance), a study's instructions are something like "White to draw" (for instance). What this means is to find a line of play ...
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Make checkmate with pawns without promotion
I have a chess puzzle here:
[FEN "7k/8/8/4KPPP/8/8/8/8 - - - 0 0 "]
Can White force mate without promotion?
And if such exist, where can I find some more chess puzzles like this, which feature ...
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THE longest problem ever (much longer than the mere 549 mover...)
The "Fireside Book of Chess" by I. Chernev and F. Reinfeld includes the following diagram
[fen "3nk3/3NN3/3PP3/3BB3/3PP3/3PP3/3PP3/2RQKR2 w - - 0 1"]
Composed by J.N. Babson for ...
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How to learn basics of composition?
There are a few resources in the web for problem composers. Problem is the usually assume you are already part of the community. As a result one has to wander around to find out what is a grasshopper, ...
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What makes a contemporary chess problem decent?
One can set up some pieces and concoct a situation that has, say, a mate in 3 (yes, I know it is not straightforward, but if you sit for a few hours you can do it).
Such problem would probably not be ...
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What is the best continuation in this problem-h4 or Qd8?
In the given diagram, I have two best ways to continue for white, which is the better option out of these two and why?
[FEN "2Q5/p1P2pkp/1p2p3/5p2/3P4/5P1P/P2q2PK/8 w - - 0 1 "]
1. Qd8 Qf4+ (1. h4 ...
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Online resources for medieval Persian chess games or problems?
I am looking for any collection of chess games of al-Suli or anyone medieval scholar's composition of games. Any resources would be appreciated.
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Self-Solving Chess Problems
Are there any longer "problems" like this, which is white to move and mate in 6?
(Namely, where one is actually forced to achieve the "goal".)
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Chess problem - don't understand the solution
Black to move:
[fen "4rbk1/pp3pp1/1nq4p/8/1PP5/P3N1P1/Q2BrP1P/3R1RK1 b - - 0 1"]
I've tried to solve this chess problem - black to move, find the best move. I couldn't work it out so I checked the ...
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Giving moves as odds, what's the least number of moves by White which forces checkmate by the time it's Black's turn?
If one player (Black) gives another player (White) odds of x moves, stipulating that White must not move any man beyond his fourth rank until Black has made one move, what's the smallest value for "x" ...
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What is the origin of this breakthrough combination?
If you've spent enough time in the world of chess, it's not unlikely that you've come across the following position, with white to move and win, or an essentially identical one. You'll see plenty of ...
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