ArcaMax

Not all mating attacks begin with a check, but the checks do follow.

One of my favorite Richard Reti studies. White can’t promote right away because of the bishop check, so what does White do as the Black pawn intends to run.

For a Mate in Two Monday, we took this from the exceptionally instructive and entertaining classic, The Mammoth Book of Chess by Graham Burgess. Should be on everyone’s bookshelf.

An unknown game with a mating attack.

A famous Fischer position from 1960 against Letelier

An easy mate in four for your day off today.

A good many chess puzzle sites give mating challenges that are of a few moves. I do that, too. However, I also like to throw in one like today’s puzzle. This is what I call a “step back” puzzle. I take what could be a challenging mating attack and then go back some moves before that to challenge you to find how the first steps took place. ...