So, it's high time for a little fun stuff in our guides. Here are tactical puzzles for Action Chess! Hopefully, they will help you see and recognize tactical ideas during the game. You better start by solving it on your own before reading the solution. The answers are provided below if you need them.
Puzzle №1
At first glance, it may seem that the black is prevailing, as it has queen compared to two pawns. On the other hand, the white is threatening to checkmate the black king by moving on the g7. So what should the black do?
Puzzle №2
Here the white is ahead by a queen to black's three pawns. What's the black's best move?
Puzzle №3
This time the black is two rooks ahead to one white pawn! But it's nearly promoted. How can the black win?
Puzzle №4
Now the black is ahead by a bishop and a pawn. Will it be a win this time?
Puzzle №5
It looks like the white king won't get away. Does it worth struggling?
Puzzle №6
The black has some problems, doesn't it? How can the white win the game?
Puzzle №7
This puzzle is tricky enough. The white king is blocked on edge, but there are two pawns on the kingside ready to promote. However, the black is prepared to promote his pawn as well. Who will win and how?
Puzzle №8
This one is all about timing. Are you able to solve it?
Solution to puzzle1
Provided the black decides to move his queen closer (let's say e7), the white will do g7, checkmating the black king.
If only the queen won't capture the pawn!
Now the g7 move loses, and the queen capture turns to draw. Although here we may ponder on timing (as the white is to wait for the queen not to lose the game, and this is when both king will be en passant), the safest game for the black is the queen sacrifice.
Solution to puzzle 2
The black better capture the pawn by the rook.
Once the white queen is about to take the black rook, the black instantly captures h4 pawn by the king. Then move its' pawn on the g5 to defense the rook.
An easy win for the black with its' five pawns versus the only rook.
Solution to puzzle 3
First thing to note: as soon as the black rook g1 starts moving, the white will immediately promote its' pawn into the queen. The white king blocks the other rook, thus making queen capture impossible. However, during the g1 rook is standing still, the other one is free to move.
That's why the first thing fro the black to do is move the a8 rook closer to the white king.
It will allow us to do the following.
When the rook gets to the g7, another rook instantly attacks the white king.
The white king is forced to dodge to the 7th row. This means that the g7 rook will be able to capture it.
The white queen threatens to take this rook, that's why the black king is forced to capture the queen. The black rook will recharge just in time to take the white king. So, this is a safe (and required as well) game.
Now the black is just about to capture the white king.
Solution to puzzle 4
This question is a tricky one, as it's a draw. The black king is blocked on the edge of the board in front of its' pawns. The only way to make progress is to move the b pawn forward.
The white's response is to take the pawn and defend it with the king. Now the white has a passed pawn, and the black king is still offside. Not good. So the black better offer a draw.
Solution to puzzle 5
This one is extremely simple: the only possible escape here is to block the black bishop by moving a pawn on c4, then capture the queen by the king. Note for the classic chess players: we don't have en passant here in action chess.
Solution to puzzle 6
At first sight, it may seem to be too easy.
But when the white rook captures the black one, it's not necessarily for the black to recapture with the queen. So, he does it with his king instead!
Now the white queen may capture the king, right? Nope. As the white king has no safe move!
Any move leads to a check. Timing will get the black to win, no matter where the white king will move. Thus, initial capture won't bring an easy win for the white.
But still, the white has many ways to win, all of them include the pawn win. Here's one of them.
First of all, the white queen move to d1, preparing for capturing the black pawn. Just a moment before the black queen recharges, the white captures the rook.
As before, the black has to take the rook by the king. And now the white easily captures the pawn by the queen.
The pawn advantage is pretty enough for the white to win.
Solution to puzzle 7
Probably, this one is the most difficult.
Step 1: Kc5.
This is the key move: it keeps the white king trapped on the edge of the board, and at the same time allows to attack the white rook. The white has to move his rook, but where to?
He has to move the rook on b7, the king on a7, and the pawn on a6. Any other variant will lead the black to an easy win.
If the white rook moves to the left, right, bottom or one square up, the black do the checkmate like this:
If the white rook moves to b8, still the black responds with a checkmate by a knight.
If the rook moves to b6, the black wins by capturing it with the knight. He uses the newly promoted queen to checkmate the white later on.
Following all the things said before, the white is forced to play like this:
After the black moves his king on d6, the situation will be the following:
Now the knight and queen of the black's trap the opponent's pieces on edge, thus making it possible for the king to attack the white pawns on the kingside.
Hopefully, you've got the idea. The white is not powerful enough to stop the black king from capturing the pawns. Even if he tries to take the knight by the rook, the knight will just move on f8 and lose his rook as a result. From here, it's an easy win for the black.
Solution to puzzle 8
Compared to the other puzzles, this one is a piece of cake: once you make the first move, the rest follow in turn- like a domino!
Here is the order of the moves:
- The black king takes the pawn (Kd3:c3)
- The black bishop captures the white knight (B4:d6)
- The black bishop captures the white queen (Bf5:e4 )
- The black knight captures the white bishop (Nf3:d4)
- The black rook captures the white rook (Re3:e2)
- The black queen captures the white king (Qd2:d1)!
It's all about the timing!
Strategy Examples in Click-Storm Action Chess. Part 15
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