Novice NookDan Heisman

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Understanding Chess Puzzles

Quote of the Month: You can't do a puzzle if you don't know what the puzzle is asking.

I almost always use puzzles to help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of my students. One easy puzzle is the from A Tactics Quiz:

White to play and win

[FEN "r1bqkb1r/ppp2pp1/2np3p/1B6/4n3/ 5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq 0 1"]

However, it quite often happens that a new student, especially one rated under 1300, will remain silent until prompted as to whether they have found a continuation. The no-longer-surprising answer is "I am not able to find a mate." The student often claims they saw the intended answer 1.Re1 followed by 2.d3 winning the knight but that was not "winning."

The players who make this mistake are often experienced chess players who have read many tactics books, or used software such as CT-ART 4.0. Since most puzzle books and software clearly feature "play and win" problems, I had erroneously assumed they knew what "play and win" meant. Yet it turns out that a much higher percentage than expected did not know. So this month, let's review some of the most common directives associated with chess problems.

Play and Win

In order to satisfy a play and win directive, you have to find a forcing sequence that leads to a position where, if both sides play correctly, your side has a "winning position"; i.e., a position where a win can eventually be forced with correct play. Except for special problems like Helpmates, in "normal" problems you must assume the opponent is trying to play the best moves or toughest defense. Therefore, to satisfy the criteria, you have to achieve your goal against all possible defenses, especially the ones designed to stop what you are trying to achieve.

For most opening and middlegame problems, "play and win" usually involves getting to a position where your side is ahead at least the exchange (a bishop or knight for a rook) or more, like an extra piece (bishop or knight), not to mention winning a rook or queen. Endgame problems "play and win" goals can be a little trickier you might play and win in the endgame where you "only" can force a clearly winning king and pawn endgame, where material might be temporarily even but not for long.

In terms of computer evaluation, play and win for White usually requires achieving a value of +1.0 or, more likely, higher except in deep endgames

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You Move... I Win!

by Alex Angos

Winning Chess Exercises

for Kids by Jeff Coakley

The Giants of Strategy

by Neil McDonald

where retaining mating material is a consideration. When you win a pawn early in the game and your opponent gets no compensation, then you are likely "winning" with best play on both sides. And if you win the exchange, the computer should evaluate you as ahead roughly 1.8 pawns, all other aspects being equal.

Play and win does not preclude delivering checkmate in some lines. However, if it were checkmate in every line, the problem would more than satisfy the "play and win" directive and could be reclassified as "play and mate" problem. Here is a cute position from You Move... I Win! by Angos, attributed to the famous problemist Troitsky:

White to play and win

[FEN"5B2/6p1/8/6pp/7k/5P2/q5PK/8 w - - 0 1"]

1.Bxg7 White threatens 2.Be5 and 3.Bg3# because of the unfortunate placement of Black's king. If 1g4 2.Bf6#. 1...Qe2 Guarding e5; other moves lose similarly. 2.Bc3!! Zugzwang. 2Qf2 If 2Qb4 3.Be1#. 3.Be5! Zugzwang again. White wins. 3Qg1+ Other moves allow checkmate; e.g., 3Qe3 4.g3# or 3Qe2 4.Bg3#. 4.Kxg1 g4 5.f4 and White wins.

Play and Mate

In a "play and mate" problem you have to force a checkmate, but there is no limit to the number of moves. However, since all "winning" positions eventually checkmate anyway (it may take forty or more moves), in practice the number of moves to mate in a "play and mate problem" is usually fairly short, say seven or eight at the most, and even that many is rare, especially in "easy" problem books.

Here is a "play and mate" from Jeff Coakley's superb book Winning Chess Exercises for Kids, which features three "play and mate" positions among each set of nine problems:

[FEN"6k1/1p3Rpp/p1pN4/2P1n3/

1PB5/7P/1q4PK/8 w - - 0 1"]

The solution is 1.Re7+, there follows:

1Nxc4 2.Re8#. 1Nf7 2.Re8#. 1Kf8 2.Re8#. 1Kh8 2.Re8#.

Since all of these lines are two moves or less, this could also qualify as a "White to mate in two." However, if there had been lines that took three or more moves to force the mate, it is still a "play and mate" problem. Here is a more difficult "Play and mate" problem from later in the same book:

[FEN"2r3k1/1b2p1b1/p5p1/1p2P1N1/

5PQ1/1P6/q1P4P/2KR4 w - - 0 1"]

The answer is 1.Qe6+ Kh8 If 1Kf8 2.Qf7#. 2.Qh3+ Kg8 3.Qh7+ Kf8 4.Ne6+ Kf7 If 4Ke8 5.Qg8+ Bf8 6.Qxf8#. 5.Qxg7+ Kxe6 6.Qxg6#

Play and Mate in N moves

In "Play and mate in N moves" problems, the solver must force checkmate in a specified number of moves. Often these are positions in which finding a mate with one extra move is fairly easy, but getting down to N is the tricky part. Here is one of my favorite problems, originally posed in the popular "Benko's Baffler's" column in Chess Life circa 1970:

White to play and mate in three

[FEN"5K2/8/3p2k1/3P1R2/2P2p1P/

2B2P2/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

As with many "mate in three" problems, White is winning easily and can mate in four in a straightforward way; e.g., 1.Rg5+ Kh7 (1Kh6 allows mate in three with 2.Kf7 zugzwang! 2Kh7 3.Rh5#, but of course Black is trying to avoid mate in three and will try 1Kh7. In a real game Black might not care if he is mated in three or four, but here, if you were playing Black or trying to find Black's moves, consider it a "win" for Black if you can avoid mate in three by holding out longer!) 2.Kf7 Kh6 3.Bd4 Many moves would do as Black is again in zugzwang 3Kh7 4.Rh5# Although mate in four is easy, the problem is mate in three, so where is it? Not so easy at all. Turns out to force a mate in three White needs to find the following pretty line:

1.Bh8!! Kxf5 If 1Kh7 2.Rf6! Kxh8 3.Rh6# and if 1Kh6, then 2.Kf7 Kh7 3.Rh5# as above. 2.Kg7 Ke5 3.Kg6#

Play and Draw

This type of problem asks you to take a position that looks losing and save the half-point.

Here's an instructive example from You Move... I Win!:

White to play and Draw

[FEN"8/8/8/8/B6n/7p/6k1/4K3 w - - 0 1"]

Black threatens to play 1Kg1 and 2Ng2 to block the bishop's control of h1 and then promote. How can White stop this plan?

White has to play 1.Bd7 h2 2.Bc6+ Kg1 3.Bh1! Now if 3Kxh1, then 4.Kf2! and the knight can never go to the correct colored square that can prevent White's king from moving Kf1-Kf2 with a draw, a famous "parity" problem. If instead 4.Kf1?, then Black wins easily try it and learn. But if instead Black tries 3Ng2+, then 4.Ke2 draws; e.g., 4Nf4+ 5.Ke1 Nh5 6.Bc6 Ng3 7.Bb7 Nf5 8.Bc6 Ne3 9.Bh1! Ng2+ 10.Ke2 and we go around again.

Play and Win Material

This rarer type of problem usually specifies the material to be won; e.g., "White to play and win a pawn." This sort of problem is especially useful if winning the pawn may or may not yield a theoretical win early in the game. In that case "Play and win" is arguable, so you just state "White to play and win a pawn." Otherwise, it is similar to "White to play and win."

Play and Save Material

This is a defensive problem. I include some in Back to Basics: Tactics and Coakley includes a defensive problem as the seventh one on each page (among a set of nine problems) in Winning Chess Exercises for Kids. In the following position, White thought he was losing the exchange, but he had a thematic saving move:

White to play and not lose the exchange

[FEN"3R4/1p2rppk/p1n4p/P7/2PR4/

6KP/6P1/8 w - - 0 1"]

1.R4d7! Not 1.R8d7? Nxd4 2.Rxe7 Nf5+. 1Nxd8 2.Rxe7 or 1Rxd7 2.Rxd7 or 1Re3+ 2.Kf2 does the trick.

Is It Safe?

This type of problem is one of my specialties (see Is It Safe?). The solver has to determine if a candidate move is safe; i.e., does it lose material or allow checkmate to a basic tactic that your opponent can make in reply. It is a very

useful type of problem, as you should be asking yourself this question for every one of your candidate moves, especially in "analytical" positions where the opposing forces are clashing.

Here is an easy one from a student game:

Is 1.Bh3 safe?

[FEN"3r1r2/p1p2pk1/1p1p2p1/8/4Ppqp/ P1P1Q3/1PP2P1K/R2R1B2 w - - 0 1"]

No, because of 1Qxd1! and no matter how White replies, he is losing at least a rook.

Find the Best Move

These are usually positional problems where you have to find the right idea or plan, as shown through your first move. Winning Chess Exercises for Kids has one of these on every page as well. (I really admire this work by Coakley it is definitely not a book just for kids!) The answer usually does not involve winning material, but it certainly does not preclude that possibility, especially if the opposition makes an understandable mistake. Here is an example from Neil McDonald's Chess Secrets: The Giants of Strategy, one of his superb series of instructive anthologies:

White to play

[FEN"r4rk1/pp2qppp/4b3/2p5/8/

4PQP1/PP3PBP/R4RK1 w - - 0 1"]

McDonald writes, "Marshall should have set his pawns to work with 16.e4! planning 17.Qe3 followed by a surge in the centre with 18.f4, 19.e5, and 20.f5."

This is an excellent example of the principle "When you have a pawn majority, you have to set it rolling, even if it is in front of your king," which is a corollary of Steinitz's principle "If you have an advantage, then you have to make use of it or else you don't have that advantage at all." Or, as commonly stated, "If you have an advantage, you must attack." However, here you should take the word "attack" to mean "go after your opponent's weaknesses," not necessarily attack, say, your opponent's king.

Positions Without Two Kings

If you see a diagram without two opposing kings on the board, that means the author does not want to distract you with extraneous pieces, but simply wishes to point out an isolated idea:

[FEN"6k1/8/4r3/8/8/8/4B3/6K1 w - - 0 1"]

The element of the position that deserves our focus is that White should pin the black rook with 1.Bc4. Black should then play 1Kf7, so as to not lose an entire rook. If there were a white king on g1, then 1Kf7 would not even be necessary, as Black could draw whether he loses an entire rook or not. However, in most situations where both sides have more material on the board, Black should play 1Kf7 to only lose the exchange. Removing the white king makes the situation more generic and instructive.

Question Sometimes when I play online opponents I feel as if they have computer assistance. I realize they could be using an outside computer, but is there an ICC function that helps players analyze during a game.

Answer It is illegal for ICC players (and those on almost all online chess servers) to utilize computer assistance. Personally, I agree with IM John Watson that you should not care. Primarily because any computer use is going to be reflected in the opponent's rating. For example, anyone using a computer on each move of the game would have a 3000+ online rating, and you would likely avoid them anyway. However, if you suspect an opponent is getting computer assistance, simply don't play him any more and don't worry about everyone else.

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Dan welcomes readers' questions; he is a full-time instructor on the ICC as Phillytutor.

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