ArcaMax

A very fine and well-crafted composition that has practical value.

This is an old favorite of mine for showing students. It’s actually very logical.

This is a wild and wooly game from 1896 between Reinisch and Traxler. It started out 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 Bc5 5.Nxf7 Bxf2+ 6.Ke2 Nd4+ 7.Kd3 b5 8.Bb3 Nxe4 9.Nxd8. Black has just sacrificed his queen for a mating attack and does, indeed mate on move 17. See if you can figure out how he did it. Give it a try!

This is known as a “grotesque” problem. A massive disparity in forces can’t prevent the little guy from mating. It’s a very narrow mating path, and it’s good brain practice.

There is more than one way to mate in three in this position. Find one!

This was played in a blitz game last night. It’s a mating attack. Find all the moves!

For those of you familiar with the Anastasia mating pattern, this will be easy. For those of you who are not familiar, it’s worth knowing.

Black has several pieces hanging, so there’s a need to get busy.

A little warm-up for Monday. A mate in three.

A great weekend puzzle here. Black is going to queen a pawn, so what can White do here? I mined this gem of a composition from Paul Motwani’s S*T*A*R* CHESS book. He intersperses the games he goes over with wonderful problems. His whole series is spectacular.

Bronstein beat Korchnoi in this finish in 1962. Major pieces roaming the board are always dangerous.

In a seemingly secure position, Black will be convinced to resign in two moves.

Won by Geller in 1962.

Mating Attack.

The legendary David Bronstein always came up with wild moves when needed.

A great Memorial Day weekend puzzle. You have a chance to outthink a genius! At Moscow in 1957, arguably the most dangerous attacking player in chess history, Mikhail Tal, missed a win in this position against Antoshin and only drew the game.

This one’s a dandy. Fun king hunt.

White found a unique way to use the threat of a back rank mate in this game which was played in the USSR in 1946. I’ll bet they were happy just to be playing chess after years of war.

Today is do better than Boris day. In this position at Baku in 1961, he did find a winning continuation, but he overlooked a mating attack. Can you do better?

GM Levon Aronian won the recent American Cup in St. Louis with terrific fighting play—and a little luck! In one game, his opponent, Sam Sevian, reached this position and missed a winning continuation. Aronian had missed it, to, obviously. Aronian would go on to win the game. Can you find what two elite GMs missed?