Note: In these solutions, those moves that
were required are given in bold type. All else is given for the
sake of completeness and for the interest of solvers. The symbol
'S' is used for knight and threats are given in parentheses.
1. Leopold M Szwedowski
South African Chess Player , 1960
Mate in 2
Show solution
1.Bc5? (2.Qxd5#) 1...dxc5!
1.Be5? (2.Qxd5, Re3#) 1...dxe5!
1.Bf6? (2.Qxd5#) 1...Qa8!
1.Bg7? (2.Qxd5#) 1...c6!
1.Bc3? (2.Qxd5#) 1...Sxd2!
1.Be3? (2.Qxd5#) 1...Bxe2!
1.Bxf2? (2.Qxd5#) 1...Bxd2!
1.Bh8! (2.Qxd5#) (5)
1...Bxd2 2.Sxf2#
1...Sxd2,
Sc3 2.S(x)c3#
1...Rd4,
Bc4 2.R(x)d4#
1...Bd3 2.exd3#
1...Bxe2 2.Rxe2#
1...Bc6,
Bd7,
Bxe8 2.Qxb1#
1...c6 2.Qh7#
1...Qf6+,
Qa8 2.S(x)f6#
2. Zdenek Mach
Tidskrift för Schack , 1896
Mate in 3
Show solution
1.Qa2! (1)
2.Bxe3+ Kxe3 3.Qd2# (1)
Kg3 3.Qf2#)
1...e2 2.Qd2+ Kg3 3.Qg5# (1)
1...Bb6 2.Qg8 (3.Qg5#) (2)
Qxg8 3.Be5#
3. Mubariz Safarov
3rd Comm., Die Schwalbe , 2004
Mate in 3
Show solution
1.Be2! (½)
[2.Bxc4 (3.Ra6#) (1)
Qxc4 3.Sd7#]
1...Qf5 2.Qxe5 (3.Qb2#) (1)
Qxe5,Qf6 3.Sd7#
c3 3.Ra6#
Bf6,Sd6 3.Bxc5#
1...Qg4 2.Qg1 (3.Qb1#) (1)
Qxg1 3.Sd7#
c3 3.Ra6#
Sd6 3.Bxc5#
1...Qh3 2.Rh1 (3.Rb1#) (1)
Qxh1,Qf1 3.Sd7#
c3 3.Ra6#
Sd6 3.Bxc5#
1...Qd6 2.Bxc5+ Qxc5 3.Sd7# (½)
4. V I Melnichenko & V F Rudenko
1st HM.=, Shakhmatnaya kompozitsiya , 2004
Mate in 4
Show solution
1.e5! (1)
(2.Sf4+ Kd4 3.Bc3+ Kc5 4.d4#) (1)
1...dxc4 2.Ka2 (3.Bc3 & 4.Sf4# (1)
c5 3.Sf4+ Kd4 4.Bc3# (1)
1...bxc4 2.Bc3 (3.Sf4#)
Sb5+ 3.Sxb5 & 4.Sf4# (1)
5. Nikolai Kralin & Lev Sokolenko
1st Prize, Thèmes-64 , 1983
White to play and win
Show solution
1.Ne6+! (½)
1...Kc8 (i) 2.axb3 (ii) (1)
2...b5+ (iii) 3.Ka3 (iv) (½)
3...c4 4.b4 (½)
4...Rb3+ 5.Ka2 (½)
5...Rxb4 (v) 6.Nc5! (1)
6...Kd8 7.Ka1 (½)
7...Kc8 8.Rd4! 1–0 (½)
(i) 1...Kd7 2.Nxc5+ Kd6 3.Nxb3 Kc7 4.Re7+ Kc8 5.a3 Rb2 6.Nd4 Kd8 7.Re6 Kd7 8.Rh6 Rf2 9.Nb5 Rf8 10.Kb4 Rf2 11.Kc5 Ra2 12.Rh7+ Ke6 13.Rxb7 1-0; 1...Ke7 2.Nxc5+ Kd6 1-0 as previous note; 1...Ke8 2.Nxc5+ Kd8 3.axb3 Kc7 4.Kb5 Kd6 5.b4 Rg1 6.Nxb7+ 1-0 (ii) 2.a3? b6 3.Nf4 Kd7 4.Re2 Kc6 5.Re6+ Kd7 6.Rxb6 c4 7.Rb7+ Ke8 8.Kb4 Rf1 9.Nd5 b2 10.Kxc4 b1Q 11.Rxb1 Rxb1 = (iii) 2...b6 3.Re3 c4 4.bxc4 Kd7 5.Nd4 Rb2 6.Rh3 Kd6 7.Rh5 Kd7 8.Rh6 Kc7 9.Nb5+ Kb7 10.Nc3 Ka7 11.Nd5 Rb1 12.Ka3 Kb7 13.Ka2 Rc1 14.Rxb6+ 1-0 (iv) 3.Kxb5? Rxb3+ = (v) 5...Rh3 6.Re5 Rh2+ 7.Kb1 Kd7 8.Nd4 Rh1+ 9.Kb2 Rh2+ 10.Kc1 Rh1+ 11.Kd2 Rh2+ 12.Ke3 Rh3+ 13.Ke4 Rh4+ 14.Kd5 c3 15.Re3 Rh5+ 16.Ke4 Rh4+ 17.Kd3 c2 18.Nxc2 Kc7 19.Nd4 Kb7 20.Re5 Ka6 21.Rg5 Rh3+ 22.Ke4 Rh6 23.Kd5 Kb6 24.Nf3 Rh8 25.Rg6+ Kb7 26.Kd6 Rd8+ 27.Kc5 Re8 28.Kxb5 1-0
6. Aleksandr Feoktistov
1st Prize, Uralski Problemist , 1996
Selfmate in 3
Show solution
1.Qh6! () (2)
1...Rh4 2.Rd3+ Rd4 3.a5 cxd3# (1)
1...Rh5 2.Rg4+ Re5 3.Rxg3 Sxg3# (1)
1...Rxh6 2.Rd7+ Rf6 3.Bxg2 Qxg2,Rxg2# (1)
7. Gennady Kozyura
2nd Prize, Shakhmatnaya Poeziya , 2006
Selfmate in 6
Show solution
1.Bc7! (1)
(2.Rd1 & 3.Sd2+ Ke3 4.Bb6+ Rxb6 5.Qe5+ Sxe5 6.Sc4+ Sxc4#) (2)
1...h5 2.Re6 fxe6 3.Ka6 e5 4.a5 e4 5.Sd2+ Ke3 6.Qc5+ Sxc5# (2)
8. Zoltan Laborczi
3rd Comm., Die Schwalbe , 2004
Helpmate in 5
Show solution
1.g2 Kd1 2.g1S Ke1 3.Sf3+ exf3 4.e2 Kf2 5.e1R Bg2# (2½)
1.Kg1 Bg2 2.h1B Bxe4 3.Kh2 Kf1 4.Kxh3 Kg1 5.Bg2 Bf5# (2½)
