For this week's puzzles I decided to only use positions where you have to see one key move for the solution. So you don't need to calculate deeply, just find the right candidate move and suppport it with simple variations. I have taken the puzzles from the excellent book 1001 Chess Exercises for Club Players and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.
1. Abdullatif-Martins, 2012
Black to play
2. Brenninkmeijer-Jens, 2018
Black to play
3. Moiseenko-Alekseenko, 2014
White to play
4. Draskovic-Romanishin, 2013
Black to play
5. Wantola-Schoorl, 2012
Black to play
6. Tarrasch-Allies, 1914
White to play
Black to play
2. Brenninkmeijer-Jens, 2018
Black to play
3. Moiseenko-Alekseenko, 2014
White to play
4. Draskovic-Romanishin, 2013
Black to play
5. Wantola-Schoorl, 2012
Black to play
6. Tarrasch-Allies, 1914
White to play
Solutions
1. Abdullatif-Martins, 2012
Blackto play
The key point of this position is that white has problems with the back rank and the
f2 square. If black's f5-bishop wouldn't be there, black would win easily with 1...Qxf2+
2.Rxf2 Rd1+. So black needs to move the bishop away with tempo Blackto play
1...Be4
And white will lose the bishop
2. Brenninkmeijer-Jens, 2018
Black to play
The position looks very dangerous for black, but white's king is in trouble due to
the weak back rank. Black to play
1...Rf1
And black wins due to 2.Rxf1 Qd1+ 3.Rxd1 Rxd1#
3. Moiseenko-Alekseenko, 2014
White to play
Black's king is out of moves so any check will be mate, if the checking piece cannot
be taken. White has 2 checks 1.Qc6+ and 1.Bxd5+ but both of them won't work because
they can be captured. However, this also means that the d7-rook has to stay on the
d-file and the queen has to stay on the sixth rank. This enables white to play the
winning White to play
1.Bxg7
And the bishop cannot be taken despite being attacked by two pieces.
4. Draskovic-Romanishin, 2013
Black to play
It's clear that the white king is in trouble and black should to look for ways to
exploit this. Black to play
1...Re2
A beautiful move and the rook cannot be taken due to 2...Nxg3+
5. Wantola-Schoorl, 2012
Black to play
Again, white's king is in trouble but it is not clear how black can break through. Black to play
1...Be1
This move destroys white's defensive setup and threatens 2...Bf2# and after 2.Bg2 black has 2...Re2
6. Tarrasch-Allies, 1914
White to play
Black's king is in great danger but the black queen defends b7 which is crucial. White to play
1.Bc7
A nice interfering move and the bishop cannot be taken: 1...Rxc7 2.Qb7+ Rxb7 3.Rxc5# or 1...Qxc7 2.Rxc5+ Qxc5 3.Qb7+ Kxa5 4.Ra1#