Simple But Beautiful

I love this position (number 165 in Alburt's Chess Training Pocket Book). It's white to move - what would you play?

Highlight between the brackets for the solution.
[ 1.Bg5! And black resigned. He can't take the bishop with the h pawn, as Qh5 will be mate. If black's queen takes the bishop, white wins with Qg8# ]

White to Play and Kick Ass

I found the following little gem on Tim Krabbé's Chess Curiosities site. Take a look at the following game from Hendriks - Spanton, Hastings 2006. After

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 dxe4 8.Nxe5 O-O 9.dxe4 Qe7 10.Qf4 Nh5

they reached the following position:



What’s the best continuation for white? Hint: It’s a beautiful move. Highlight between the brackets for the solution:

[12.Qg3! Nxg3? 13.Ng6+ hxg6 14.hxg3# Note Black isn’t forced to play 12…Nxg3, but 12...Rxf7 still leaves white with an advantage, for example after 12...Rxf7 13.Qg5]

For Your Entertainment

I have added a new little gadget to my blog - the daily chess puzzle you see on the right, courtesy of Shredder. Yet another way for you to kill a minute or two while pretending to be busy at work! :)

Fun Puzzle

Here’s a fun little puzzle from Tim Krabbé's site. Think this position can’t be legal? Here’s the proof (too lazy to put it into Chesspublisher right now):

1.d3 h6 2.Bxh6 f5 3.Qd2 f4 4.Qxf4 a5 5.Qxc7 Kf7 6.g3 Kg6 7.Bg2 Kh5 8.Bxb7 Kg4 9.Nf3 Kh3 10.Bxc8 e5 11.Bxg7 e4 12.Kd2 e3+ 13.Kxe3 Kg2 14.Ng1 Kf1 15.Kf3 Ke1 16.Qxa5+ Bb4 17.Nc3+ Kd2 18.Rf1 Rh3 19.Bxd7 Nh6 20.Nd1 Kc1 21.Bxh6+ Kb1 22.Bc1 Na6 23.Kg2 Rc8 24.Bxh3 Rc3 25.Nxc3+ Ka1 26.Nb1 Nc5 27.Rd1 Be1 28.Qxe1 Ne4 29.Kf1 Nd2+ 30.Rxd2 Qd5 31.Qd1 Qg2+ 32.Ke1 Qf1+ 33.Bxf1

Copy & paste into this PGN viewer to replay.