On this page you can test your chess IQ on eight chess puzzles, all but one are from my own games at the swiss chess championship in Pontresina. Be warned: they are rather tough...
1. Fierz - P. Tesar
My first-round game: White to move. Black's bishop is bad. Find a plan for white to win the game and answer the question: is this position winning for white?In the game, I found the plan and my opponent lost without much fight.
Here's how to think: white only has c4 left - so how would you like to place the white pieces to make c4 possible?
Then look at the c4-variation and decide where black must place his pieces in the meantime - if he can.
2. O.Noyer - N. Giertz, slightly adapted
A cool (and very instructive) position which occurred in round 5: black to move and win! This one is harder than you think :-)The position in the game had pawns on g2 and h3 instead of g3 and h2. What's the difference?
The obvious 1... c4+ only draws. To win, you need to know something about 'corresponding squares'.
3. G. Nüesch - Fierz (I)
In round 6 the weather was beautiful, so I put on my trekking shoes and offered a draw on move 16. Fortunately for this puzzle page, white declined. 3 moves later, he played 19.Bd2-e3. What did he miss?(On my 600MHz AMD K7 Fritz 5.00 needs 15 seconds for this)
There are two standard squares for sacrifices in the Tarrasch defence. This puzzle uses both...
4. G. Nüesch - Fierz (II)
My draw offer had been based on the variation 16. ...Be7-b4 17.Be3-d2 Bb4-d6 18. Bd2-e3 (Diagram) Bd6-b4 repeating moves. Gerard decided to play on with 18. a2-a3 Nf6-e4 19. Bd2-e3, which is the puzzle above. My next question: Could black do better than repeat moves with Bd6-b4?(Fritz needs 2:50 for this!)
...and so does this one. However, this one needs a 'quiet' move on move 2 to succeed.
5. Fierz - O. Moor
In round 7 I played against the strongest player of my chess club, Wollishofen. I got a great attacking position after two careless moves by black. The last moves before the diagram were 18. ...Ra8-d8 19. Bc1-f4 Qc7-c8. This is a visualization puzzle: do not play the following moves over on a chess board, just try to visualize what's going on: My first instinct was of course to play 20.Nh5xf6+ Be7xf6 21.Qe2-c2 threatening 22.Qh7+ Kf8 23. Qh8+ Ke7 24. Nf5 mate. Since Olivier is a strong player and had thought for a long time before playing Ra8-d8 I wondered what he had seen and came up with the following defence: 20.Nh5xf6+ Be7xf6 21.Qe2-c2 Bb7-e4! 22.Re1xe4 Nc5xe4 23.Qc2xe4 e6-e5 winning the knight because of the pin on the e-file. I calculated further trying to find a win: 24.Qe4-h7+ Kg8-f8 25.Qh7-h8+ Kf8-e7 26.Nd4-f5+ Ke7-e6 the second point of e6-e5: the black king has a square to go to. In this position the white queen on h8 is en prise, and the rook on e1 too, with the threat of mate. So I still looked at 27.Nf5xg7+ but after Bf6xg7 I still have the two problems and am hopelessly lost.How many mistakes are there in the bold-faced variation?
By the way, I lost this game after 20.Nh5xf6+ Be7xf6 21.Qe2-c2 g7-g6 22.Bf4xh6...
There are three mistakes - two white moves and one black move are wrong.
6. IM N.Kelecevic - M. Fierz (I)
Black to move. In round 8 I got this position after a long defence. The game is in it's rapid-play phase and I had about 10 minutes left for the remainder of the game. I came up with 56. ...h5-h4 and lost after 57.g3xh4 Kg4xh4 58.Ra3-a1! I missed that one... g6-g5 59.Ra1-h1+ Kh4-g4 60. Rh1-g1+ Kg4-h4 61.f4xg5 Ra5xa4+ 62.Ke4-f5. Where did I go wrong?
Just two days before this game I was watching Swiss chess legend Werner Hug giving tips to Conny Kradolfer. Besides the obligatory "never touch the f-pawn" he also had the following piece of advice to give: "Never move instantly - particularly when recapturing!". He was right, of course...
7. IM N.Kelecevic - M. Fierz (II)
I was showing this endgame to Martin Ballmann and Florian Jenni who stopped me when I played 59....Kh4-g4. What was his idea and does it work?
Florian had seen an interesting drawing position in the KRP vs KR ending with the black king behind the pawn. But is it forced?
8. Fierz - J.P. Z'Berg
My last round game - early in the morning I played a rather terrible opening but after the last moves 14....Nb3xc1? giving up the blockade of the queenside 15. Qd1xc1 h7-h5? (Diagram) I pounced on my chance to play 16.b2-b3! Qb6-a6 17.b3xc4 d5xc4 next diagram...
Among my options are the quiet but good Re1, Qe3 and Nf4. This means that if white wants to sacrifice material in this position he has to see something decisive. Do you?
last modified on Monday, October 02, 2000