Solitaire Chess Quiz

Solitaire Chess Quiz, by, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl) 

Hi everyone!  Have you heard of solitaire chess?  It's a great way to get better at chess all by yourself.  Bruce Pandolfini is a brilliant author who, I believe, named this idea.  It's super helpful and you can do it with any Grandmaster game.  You just guess the next move!  Are you a GM today?

I am going to show you a short game.  Your big fat up-front hint is that there will be a juicy discovered double check somewhere!  Have you seen this video?

Here we go!  It is your job to choose the best out of three possible moves.  Write down your move on a piece of paper.  It is really easy to cheat.  Don't do it!  Check your score at the end!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.)  A.  0-0  B.  Bxf7+  C.  d4  were your choices.  All three moves were interesting but one is best.  The one that attacks the center (letter c)!  That is why white played c3 first.  And now?

 

 

 

 

                                              

2.)  Do you think white should play  A.  cxd4  B.  e5  or C. 0-0?  

Look at the diagram above first.  Then scroll down to the next one.  No cheating!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 choices:

3.)  A.  Nxc3  B. bxc3  C. Qd5  

Make your decision first before looking at the diagram below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 choices:

4.)  A.  Qg6  B. Bxh6  C. Rd1

 Write down your answer before scrolling to the next diagram!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final puzzle!

5.)  A.  Nc7+  B.  Ne7+  C. Nf6+  

 They are all discovered checks, notice.  But only one leads to mate next move!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did you do?

1.  If you chose a. give yourself 1 point.  Castling is fine and it gets your king out of the center.  If you chose b. give yourself ZERO points.  Too exciting!  No need to sac here.  If you chose c. give yourself 5 points!  Great job!  You attack the center and follow through with your plan.

2.  a. 3 points.   b.  5 points.  c. 1 point.  Use the idea of intermezzo (zwischenzug)!  Kick the knight first, then recapture.

3.  a. 5    b. 2  c. 1  Threatening checkmate is fun, but you need to get your pawn back.  The checkmate is easy to stop.

4.  a.  5   b. 0 c. 1   Sure you can put your rook on an open file, but you have to see the great pin your bishop makes!  Qg6 is a rockin move.

5.  a. 0  b. 10  c. 0  !!  Did you notice that white sacked her queen?  You have to see checkmate if you are going to be so bold.

Tally your points.  30 points is the maximum genius amount.  If you got less than 15 points, review the game to be sure you understand why some moves are better than others. Remember, you can play this game by yourself.  Just find a GM game and guess their moves!