Day 407: Early queen raid
Target rating: 1121
Lesson of the day
The early queen raid: from an odd starting square the queen bursts into the game before any defense exists. In classical chess an early queen sortie gets punished, but in Chess960 it sometimes hits squares that literally no one can defend. The sign: within a move or two the queen reaches an unprotected pawn or piece near the enemy king. First check whether the queen can be chased with tempo — otherwise the raid just loses time.
Warm-up
1. Winning blow: rook to e7 (h7)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
2. Winning blow: knight to c6 (e5·5)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
3. Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (f5·19)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
4. Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·22)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
5. Winning blow: bishop to e5 (b2·3)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
6. Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g7 (f5·13)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
7. Winning blow: rook to f4 (h4)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
8. Winning blow: rook to f3 (e3·2)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
9. Winning blow: rook to d7 (d1·5)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
10. Winning blow: rook to b8 (b6)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
Core set
11. Mate in 2: queen to f5 (h7)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
12. Winning blow: queen to b3 (c3·2)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
13. Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b2 (c1)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
14. Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f3 (f4)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
15. Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f2 (f1·2)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
16. Winning blow: queen to d6 (b4·3)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
17. Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e2 (c3·5)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
18. Winning blow: queen to g6 (b1)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
19. Winning blow: rook to d3 (c3)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
20. Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·112)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
21. Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c7 (c6)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
22. Winning blow: rook to f7 (e7·2)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
23. Winning blow: knight to f7 (g5·6)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
24. Winning blow: knight to d5 (e3·10)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
25. Winning blow: rook to g5 (f5)Analysis
White to move — find the best continuation
Challenge
Review
Day complete — every puzzle solved. See you tomorrow!
Day 408 →