Interested about Learning Openings and Reading About Chess Master' Journeys? Read the articles below!

Chess In The Library Puzzle

Try to solve this puzzle!

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The move rook a6 protects against checks for the king. If you move your king in the starting position you will get hit with a check or pin. If you move any of your other pieces, they might delay checkmate or you might not even be able to checkmate at all.

Black is in zugzwang, which means any move by black will lead to checkmate. With any black bishop move, you can take the black queen and checkmate.

With any black knight move, white bishop to g3 is checkmate as the diagonal of the white queen is no longer blocked. If the black queen moves off of the diagonal it is currently looking at, the white queen can take the diagonal and give checkmate. If the black queen moves to e5, white knight to e2 is also checkmate.

The London System