April Fools' Day Puzzle

In honor of April Fools' Day, here's a fairy chess puzzle for you:

The upside-down queen is a grasshopper (G). The grasshopper moves along ranks, files, and diagonals, but only by hopping over another piece at any distance from the square immediately closest. If there is no piece to hop over, it cannot move. If the square beyond a piece is occupied by a piece of the opposite color, the grasshopper can capture that piece. The grasshopper may jump over pieces of either color; the piece being jumped over is unaffected.

Can you determine how White can mate the Black king?

Endgame Puzzle

Today's puzzle comes from the folks at ChessVideos.tv. It's White to move and win. How should White proceed? You can play out the endgame using this simulator.

Tal Chess Puzzle

Here's a chess puzzle from one of Tal's games. It is White to move. Can you find the mate in 4?

Chess Puzzle

Here's an interesting puzzle for you. It's White's move. Can you find the mate in four? Please note that Black still has castling privileges.

Chess Puzzle

It's been a long time since I posted a chess puzzle. I ran across this interesting position today:

Obviously, White has multiple ways to mate; however, can you find the mate in 3? There are two ways to do it, depending on Black's move.

Interestingly, I plugged this position into Rybka 3 (1 CPU) and let it run for 15 minutes. The best it could find was mate in 4. The free RobboLito and Stockfish engines found the solution instantly, so you might want to consider these engines as an alternative for endgame analyses.

Chess Puzzle

It's been a long time since I posted a chess puzzle. This one is very easy, but I decided to post it anyway since it's such a cool position. Black has just played Qe8+. What is White's best move?

An Interesting Position

I just finished watching Waldemar Moes' latest Chess Video Snack. I found the following position from this study very interesting:


What is the best move for White in this position?

If you've never heard of Chess Video Snacks, I recommend that you check out Waldemar's site at chessedelic.com.

Weekly Chess Puzzle

Here's a puzzle in a similar vein to last week's. It's White's move. Can White queen either of his pawns, or will Black's strong rook stop him?

Weekly Chess Puzzle

I have an endgame puzzle for you this week. White has a bishop and a pawn nearing promotion. Black has a rook. It is White's move. Can Black prevent the pawn from promotion?

Weekly Chess Puzzle

Today's chess puzzle comes from a game between Lev Alburt and Paul Koploy in 1987. White to move and mate in 8. Can you find the right move?

Weekly Chess Puzzle

This week's chess puzzle comes from a game played between Arthur Bisguier and Bobby Fischer in 1965. It's black's move and Fischer finds mate in 6. Can you find it?

Weekly Chess Puzzle

White to move and mate in 7. There are several variations to this puzzle - see if you can find them all!

Weekly Chess Puzzle

Here is this week's puzzle:


White to move and mate in 5. Can you spot the winning moves? If so, leave a comment on the blog explaining your solution.

Weekly Chess Puzzle

I've decided to run a series of weekly chess puzzles. I'll attempt to post problems that are more involved than the daily Shredder puzzles. If you see the solution, leave a comment on the blog explaining your reasoning.


White to move and mate in 5. Can you spot the winning move?