Selected Brilliant Chess Puzzles! No. 11

This endgame study was composed by a Russian chess composer Alexey Seleznyov. «Deutsche Schachzeitung», 1920. White is winning.
This position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) is : 3R4/p1p3n1/k2p4/P7/K1P5/8/8/8 w – – 0 0

Video Icon Attribution: See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

34 Comments

  1. A truly beautiful composition!—Ben Schultz

  2. I have noticed, in chess puzzles queen promotion usually leads to a draw 😀 😀

  3. A German chess Magazine (Deutsche Schachzeitung). Glad you translated that.

  4. But when the pawn is gonna promote can't you just move your king to B7??

  5. Interestingly enough, after 2…Kb7! 3.Re8 (strongest but not easiest) 3…Nc5+, White has to find 4.Kb5! cxd6 5.Re7+ Kb8.

  6. Interesting composition! Really teaches you to look ahead.

  7. I expected a nice solution for this puzzle, but not this nice. Very hard, but Beautiful!

  8. I'm a bit confused, why not promote the pawn to a queen?

  9. This is a win but not as simple as demonstrated. First the Knight doesn't have to take the Rook. The scenarios that follow require the Rook to out maneuver the King and Knight.This of course is playing the position against Fritz. There may be others.

  10. suren you are making me a great endgame player

  11. I could've raped Suren for the pronounciation of Deutsch Schachzeitung

  12. If the definition of "best move" is the one that optimizes the number of moves to mate, then blacks first move Ne6 is not optimal. After c5 Ne6 it is mate in 21 for white starting with cxd6. Black's best reply is actually Nf5, which is mate in 32 for white, starting with Rd7. dxc6 is also better than Ne6. It is mate in 31 starting with Rd7.
    Here is the main line.
    +M33 1.c5 Nf5 2.Rd7 Kb7 3.Rf7 Nh6 4.Rf8 Kc6 5.cxd6 cxd6 6.Rc8+ Kb7 7.Rh8 Ng4 8.Rh7+ Kc6 9.Rxa7 Ne5 10.Rh7 Nd7 11.a6 Nc5+ 12.Ka5 Nxa6 13.Kxa6 d5 14.Ka5 Kc5 15.Rc7+ Kd6 16.Rc1 d4 17.Kb5 Kd5 18.Rd1 d3 19.Rxd3+ Ke4 20.Kc4 Ke5 21.Rd5+ Ke4 22.Rh5 Kf4 23.Kd3 Kg4 24.Rd5 Kf4 25.Ra5 Kg3 26.Ke3 Kg4 27.Rd5 Kg3 28.Rd4 Kg2 29.Rg4+ Kh3 30.Kf3 Kh2 31.Rh4+ Kg1 32.Rh6 Kf1 33.Rh1+Analysis by Stockfish 8

  13. You need to be more specific when giving these puzzles. Saying "It's white to move and win the game" implies that checkmate follows on the next move. Most puzzles are defined by number of moves until checkmate (i.e. Morphy's Puzzle is White to move and mate in 2." Please be as specific as possible when defining the puzzle.

  14. he cant move the king to b7 to stop the pawn because the pawn will take the knight and then queen

  15. this solution is very hard & most chess players can easily forget this tricks in right moment.

  16. Sacrificing the Rook to promote to another rook and get the check mate. Absolutely brilliant.

  17. 1:42 …….Why won't black king come to b7 and stop the pawn from converting??

  18. Adoro i problemi di scacchi risolvibili con sottopromozione. I love chess puzzles where white wins by means of underpromotion. Best wishes from Italy

  19. At 1:45 – yes, there is a way to stop the pawn! King on B7, pawn makes it into a queen, the king takes it!

  20. 1. Rb8 c6 2. Kb4 d5 3. c5 d4 4. Kc4 d3 5. Kxd3 Kxa5 6. Rb7 Ka4 7. Kc3 Ka5 8. Kc4 a6 9. Rb1 Ka4 10. Ra1#

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.