Pal Benko to US Olympic Team: Congrats and Compose!

Grandmaster and composer Pal Benko presents some problems in honor of the US Team's historic gold medal victory in Baku last month. US Chess Team Olympic 1. 1) U

White to move. Mate in 3.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/n1K5/N1B5/k1N5/P1n5/1R6/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. Rb4+ Nxb4+ 2. Bxb4 Nd5 (2... Nd1 3. Nb6#) 3. Nb2# *[/pgn]

2) S

White to move. Mate in 2.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/1pQ5/b7/1k6/2R5/bK6/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]1. Ra3 Bc4 2. Ra4# 1-0[/pgn]

3) C

White to move. Mate in 3.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/5KR1/4P3/4B3/4R3/5kN1/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]1. Bd4 Kg2 2. Nf1+ Kxf1 (2... Kh1 3. Rg1#) (2... Kh3 3. Rg3#) (2... Kf3 3. Nd2#
) 3. Rg1# *[/pgn]

4) T

White to move. Mate in 3.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/2pPkPp1/4N3/4P3/4Q3/4K3/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]1. Qa7 Kxe5 2. Ke3 Kxd6 (2... Kxf6 3. Qe7#) 3. Qe7# *[/pgn]

5) O

White to move. Mate in 3.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/6R1/5P1B/5k1B/5P1n/6K1/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "5"]1. Re7 Kxf6 (1... Ng6 2. Bg4+ Kxf6 3. Bg5#) (1... Nf3 2. Bg7 Nd4 3. Re5#) (1...
Ng2 2. f7 Kf6 3. f8=Q#) 2. Bg5+ Kf5 3. Re5# *[/pgn]

6) 1

White to move. Mate in 2.

Show Solution

[pgn][Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/7n/6KN/5Q1p/7k/7p/7b/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "3"]1. Qg4+ hxg4 2. Nf5# *[/pgn]

Also see Vanessa West's tactics article on Baku and GM Alejandro Ramirez's wrap-up from the scene.

For more by Benko, see his most recent US Chess articles on Back to School and Independence Day themed problems.

Comments

Excellent problems and always a great pleasure to work through! GM Benko is one of the most important endgame and problem composers of contemporary chess. I hope that a complete collection of all of his composed problems will one day be published! I am sharing these mate in 2 and 3 problems with others! Michael Ciamarra

[…] from Benko on uschess that you may have missed: Back to School Problems, and congratulatory problems for the US gold medal Olympic team. Also see World Chess Hall of Fame video featuring US Chess editor Jen Shahade on a Benko […]

[…] more on Benko, see his US Chess author page, where you can find dozens of his pieces and problems, including a congratulatory article for our 2016 Olympic team, which will return with the same squad to Batumi 2018. Also find his auto-biography, co-authored […]