ArcaMax

I love the third move that forced Black’s resignation.

At first glance, White’s position might not seem to promising with a rook and queen under attack, the White king in an odd place and a pawn less to boot. However, that bishop on b3 changes things.

I like to, from time to time, use Fridays as “drop back” days. I take a forced mating position and then go back to earlier in the game to make it a bit more challenging. When you know there’s a forced mate, it’s easier to find, but getting to that position from the earlier position requires more thought. In this position, we have dropped...

Quite often in chess, we talk about “holes” in an opponent’s camp that you can occupy to create an attack. In this position, Black gifted White with two holes on d6 and f6. Of course, mate follows.

Mating attack or win of the queen.

If there ever were a model “breakthrough” example, this is it!

There were other ways to win this, but the final mating position in the way the game actually ended is the prettiest you’ll see.

At times, an old theme, even one over 600 years old, may appear at the darndest time.

If you have time over the holiday and would like to give some young person a chess lesson on using rooks, this is a very instructive position. Can the two rooks defeat two potential queens ready to be promoted?

Before you solve this mate in two, can you figure out why the pawn is on h6?