My favorite chess puzzle

Submitted by Vandarringa on Tue, 06/16/2009 at 7:46pm.

I came across this puzzle quite some time ago and was pretty floored. Admittedly, it is very contrived, but it is just as astounding. The puzzle was composed by Mark Liburkin (1910-1953), and it won 1st prize in the Veehernya Moskva composition competition in 1933. As you work through it, you will discover it has a recurring tactical theme (one that is rare in actual play). Although it is long, the solution is unique: each of the white moves is the only move that wins (as far as I can tell). White to play and win!

» posted in Vandarringa's Blog

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Comments:

by z1b - 2 months ago
farwn Kuwait

Member Since: Aug 2009
Member Points: 1

i solve it withen 5 min .eazy . thank u need more .

by Pyke - 4 months ago
Toronto Canada

Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 206

I made a 1 or 2 errors, and missed the winning move. I also missed the stalemate trap. Generally I saw the right moves though.

by Mikhail-Tal - 4 months ago
Latvia

Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 98

i swear i solved it,but with a single error ( i played Bh2 instead of f4 to distract the bishop from the diagonal),and didn't even cheated :D. i completly understood the idea of the pattern and all the move , here s the ideas : 1 Ne4+! in order to move the N to b3 to prevent black pawn from Queening 4 f4! to distract the bishop , but the bishop will always keep the diagonal.. 5 e8 N! the only move to minimize the avaible squares for the black bishop.. 6 f5!! a tricky idea to block the bishop's check ,so, black play Be5! to keep the pressure on the diagonal ,7Bh2!! the perfect move to gain 2 tempo to distract the B again ,8 b7! again to distract the bishop( wich is the main idea of the whole puzzle!!!)and to win a tempo 9 Bb8!! if B8 =Q?? (see scarjo's note!) 10 Nc7!! winning a tempo again ! 11e7! goin to Que...no! to "rooking"!in order to private square e5 from the Bishop,12 e8=R!! (Queening will always lead to stalemate)! 13 Re6! (to support the f pawn !

Shit!i m too happy now!!!