We have shared a lot of mating puzzles from the Crazyhouse World Championship matches and we shall see a lot more in future in dedicated blog posts illustrating different mating themes. We have seen puzzles such as the following: Can you spot a mate for White here?
But in order to get to such a position where mate is possible, it is important to create weaknesses in the opponent’s position, to find good positional moves, to win material with tactics, to open up key files or diagonals and to evade mating threats ourselves. So in this blog, we shall play “Spot the Move!”.
It comes with a sad twist because all the positions in this blog are from games of HighContrast, an elite crazyhouse player who was marked for using external assistance in some of his games, or maybe he is just a beast of a player. Either way, we hope to transform something good out of the drama by creating some puzzles for beginning to intermediate players. More advanced players can judge if any of these moves raise suspicion, but the real reasons for HighContrast being marked are not even necessarily the moves he made, but other factors which will likely never be known. We wish HighContrast the best regardless, and if innocent that he can clear his name.
See how many of these 27 puzzles you can solve! Best moves are below.
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| Puzzle #1 ...Nd4, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #2 ...gxf6, White to play! |
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Note that @e7 is losing instantly, as Qxe7 gives Black the diagonal he needs for mate: NxQ N@h3+ gxh3 Nf3+ Kh1 @g2+ Kxg2 Nh4+ Kg3 Q@f3+ KxN Bxf2+ RxB @g5+ Bxg5 fxg5+ Kxg5 h6+ Kh4 B@g5++.
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| Puzzle #3 ...Bg5, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #4 ...@f7, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #5 ...Nf6, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #6 e4, Black to play! |
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| Puzzle #7 ...Bxc6, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #8 ...Bb4, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #9 ...Nb6, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #10 ...Ndxc4, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #11 ...Be7, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #12 ...Kxc8, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #13 ...gxh6, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #14 ...Bxg5, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #15 ...B@h6, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #16 ...N@f4, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #17 ...N@g4, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #18 ...Bd6, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #19 ...Qh4+, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #20 ...B@f6, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #21 ...Qxg5, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #22 ...Qxg2, White to play! |
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| Puzzle #23 Rg1, Black to play! |
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| Puzzle #24 Rxg2, Black to play! |
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| Puzzle #25 @e3, Black to play! |
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| Puzzle #26 Rg3, Black to play! |
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| Puzzle #27 N@d3, Black to play! |
Key to Puzzles
Opening Puzzle: N@f7+ Kd7 Ne5+ fxe5 Qd8++
Puzzle #1: Qxf6!
Puzzle #2: N@e6 (Bh5 is also good, but NOT @e7 as explained in the blog)
Puzzle #3: B@h5+/B@g6+
Puzzle #4: d3 (Bxf7+ followed by d3 maybe even stronger)
Puzzle #5: R@h8+
Puzzle #6: dxe4 (opening the d file and exchanging queens); f2 is falling, sac on g3 and mate is coming soon
Puzzle #7: N@e5 (Ne5 also good)
Puzzle #8: c4!
Puzzle #9: N@f4 (N@f6 even stronger)
Puzzle #10: Bh4 (B@g5/B@d3/B@e4 also good moves)
Puzzle #11: B@f6! (the stunning B@g8!! possibly even stronger)
Puzzle #12: Q@a7! is #7
Puzzle #13: g5! (novelty, good opening prep!)
Puzzle #14: Qh5!
Puzzle #15: @g7!
Puzzle #16: B@h8+!!
Puzzle #17: Qxg4! (novelty, great opening prep, f3 is the follow-up)
Puzzle #18: Ne4
Puzzle #19: Kg1! (because if @h3 gxh3 gxh3 QxN)
Puzzle #20: @g6! (BxN also very strong)
Puzzle #21: d4! (good opening prep, played only by JKtheBullfrog)
Puzzle #22: hxg7! (stronger than Bf3)
Puzzle #23: Bb4! (B@e4! also strong, both moves are about light square domination)
Puzzle #24: Qe7+!
Puzzle #25: B@h1! (@f3! followed by B@e4 possible even stronger)
Puzzle #26: @h4! (BxN followed by @h4 possibly stronger)
Puzzle #27: PxR! (threatening R@g1+ and gxf2+, Black’s attack is faster although BxN+ first is arguably better)
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