ArcaMax

Another Golden Oldie. One of the toughest things to do in chess is come up with a plan in a complicated position. Alekhine reached this position years ago and noticed something about a certain pattern based on the placement of the pieces. He noticed that the queen bishop was indirectly attacking the black King. He also noticed that if the a1-a8 ...

I have a hankering for posting some old favorites. So, we’ll do some golden oldies in the coming days, and they will be fun for people who have never seen them. This first one was inspired itself by an older Reti study—White to Play and Draw. That’s a hint for for the experienced players.

You might easily guess the first move, but can you see it all the way to the finish?

When finishing off a mating attack, you always look for the most efficient way. There are two ways to force a mate here, but one is much more efficient.

This time Black gets to give White a lesson on why White should not have been so greedy to go after the rook on a8.

Time for White to finish the game.

We haven’t done a composed problem in a while. This one’s a mate in two and has an interesting story behind it. The great Jose Capablanca couldn’t solve it in 20 minutes. See if you can beat him.

White wrapped this up quickly.

Hector Rosetto as Black against James Sherwin has just played Bb4, hoping to initiate exchanges. Sherwin surprised him. What was the best move and the follow-up in this position?

Mate in three.

Another example of why you should castle.

A fun kingside attack.

This is a spectacular win by I. A. Horowitz against Arnold Denker in 1946. The lines in the notes are worth going over as well.

One more win from Benko. This one was against Horowitz in 1968.

In 1959, Pal Benko missed a chance to gain a winning position against Bobby Fischer. Can you find the key move?

Although we give a lot of mating attacks, there has to be the realization that most games are won by winning material and then grinding out the win until one’s opponent gives in. Today’s game features Sammy Reshevsky finding a way to win material against Svetozar Gligoric and then use his great technical skills to win the game.

This one could be a toughie as Black doesn’t have to cooperate. So you have to figure out both possibilities.

May not be clear, but there is a mating attack here.

Well, there’s no question about where the target is! Can you see all the moves to mate?

In 1925, E. Gruenfeld gave the great chess teacher S. Tarrasch a lesson, starting without a check.