Get Ready for National Chess Day with Benko

Excitement is ramping up for National Chess Day on October 14, 2017. GM Pal Benko preps the celebrations with some mates in honor of our special day. Make sure to solve them by Saturday night!

Puzzle #1

National (N)

White to move and mate in 3

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "National"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/8/8/2P2P2/2BN1p2/2K1kb2/2R2b2 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]1. Bd4 Bh4 2. Re1+ Bxe1 3. Nc1# *[/pgn]

Puzzle #2

Chess (C)

White to move and mate in 4

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chess"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/1KR5/P7/k7/n7/1RP5/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "7"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]1. Kc5 Nxc2 (1... Nb1 2. Ra2+ Na3 3. a6 Ka5 4. Rxa3#) 2. Rxc2 Kb3 3. Kb5 Ka3 4.
R6c3# *[/pgn]

Puzzle #3

Day (D)

White to move and mate in 3

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Day"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5Np1/5b1r/5B1k/5R1P/5KP1/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]1. Rg4 Be7 (1... g6 2. Rg5+ Bxg5 3. Bg4#) 2. Rxg7 Rf6 (2... Ra6 3. Bg4#) 3.
Rg5# *[/pgn]

October 17 (10/17)

Puzzle #4

10

White to move and mate in 2

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "1"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/1p6/1k6/1N6/1N6/1K6/1Q6 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[SourceDate "2015.11.12"]1. Ka3 Kc4 2. Qd3# *[/pgn]

White to move and mate in 2

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "0"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/6P1/5R1p/5K1p/5B1k/5R1B/6p1/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[SourceDate "2015.11.12"]2. Bg4 g1=Q (2... hxg4 3. Rxh6#) (2... g1=N 3. Bg3#) 3. Rh3# *[/pgn]

Puzzle #5

October 17

White to move and mate in 3

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "1"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/8/1k6/1N6/1N6/1K6/1Q6 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[SourceDate "2015.11.12"]1. Qg6 Kxb4 (1... Ka4 2. Kc3 Kb5 (2... Ka3 3. Qa6#) 3. Qa6#) (1... Kc4 2. Ka3
Kc3 (2... Kb5 3. Qc6#) 3. Qd3#) 2. Qd3 Ka4 3. Qc4# *[/pgn]

White to move and mate in 3

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "7"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/5pKQ/7R/6k1/5n2/5P2/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[SourceDate "2015.11.12"]1. Qe3 f5 (1... Ne5+ 2. Rxe5 fxe5 3. Qg3#) (1... Nh4+ 2. Rxh4+ Kxh4 3. Qg3#) 2.
Kh6 f4 (2... Nh4 3. Qg3#) 3. Qe6# *[/pgn]

Submit your own National Chess Day plans, games and photos to jshahade@uschess.org and dlucas@uschess.org. Find more information here.