agadmator's Puzzles

I’m sure all of you know Antonio Radić. In case you’ve been living under a rock (or simply didn’t know his real name), he’s a 34-year-old Croatian Chess Player who runs the world’s largest Youtube Chess Channel, under the name agadmator.

As is the norm with his channel – he reviews Chess Games. He’s got curated playlists covering historical games, typically organized by player or tournament. Recently, he’s also started covering games from current tournaments, often within 24 hours of the game being played. His natural excitement when it comes to uncommon openings or aggressive variations is palpable, and always makes for a pleasant viewing experience.

Now, since agadmator only reviews Chess Games, if he posts anything else, like a puzzle – you know it really is something special. Till date, he has featured 5 puzzles on his channel.

Puzzle #1

The first puzzle is my favorite of the 4 and I shall accordingly use it as the metaphorical hook, to capture my readers’ interest.

In April 1987 there was a super-GM tournament in Brussels. This tournament featured most of the best players of the time, including Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Tal, Bent Larsen, Nigel Short and Jan Timman. Here, Frederic Friedel, a journalist (also the person we get this gem of a story from) who was doing a feature on computer chess ) met with British GM James Plaskett, who he described as an “intense, young grandmaster.” After many hours of arguing British right-wing politics, Plaskett gave Friedel Puzzle #1 (originally designed by the renowned Dutch endgame composer Gijs van Breukelen) as a “parting gift.”

So he took a crack at it. As the story goes, he setup board in the press room, and after each game ended, one of the super-GMs would come in join in the analysis. But nobody got it in the press room. Mikhail Tal worked on it unsuccessfully for ten minutes, then left to take a walk in the park. However, he popped back in about an hour later, claiming to have the solution!

Now, before you take a crack at the puzzle, it is worth noting, even in 2021, modern engines cannot solve this puzzle, and rather, suggest that Black is winning. This is one of the most challenging chess puzzles ever created. Stockfish 14 evaluates this position as -2.7, at Depth 53.

White to play and win.

https://lichess.org/study/4xEz4bl2/rpiIZxLw

Puzzle #2

This puzzle is essentially a post-mortem of a 1967 Blitz Game between Juha Kasanen and Henri Koskinen, two lesser known Finnish Chess Players.

Black to checkmate in 4 moves.

https://lichess.org/study/4xEz4bl2/JPDoxGLM

There are many ways for Black to win but only one way for Black to checkmate White in 4 moves.

Puzzle #3

Origin: Shown to a 16 year old agadmator by his sister’s boyfriend. This is the puzzle that made agadmator fall in love with chess and is his “go-to” puzzle when asked for one.

White to play and win.

https://lichess.org/study/4xEz4bl2/xeAX7j2Z

Puzzle #4

Origin: Unknown

White to checkmate in 10 moves.

https://lichess.org/study/4xEz4bl2/alGg6z6W

Puzzle #5

Origin: Composed by a 15-year-old Paul Benko.

Benko showed this puzzle to Fischer during the 1968 Chess Olympiad at Lugano, Switzerland and bet that Fischer could not solve the puzzle in 30 minutes. Naturally, Fischer accepted. After 30 unsuccessful minutes, Fischer demanded the solution be presented to him.

Upon seeing the first move of the solution Bc4, Fischer instantly saw the solution. He then bet Benko that he could find another mate in 3, overnight, with a different first move. However, there is only one solution, and this was the second bet Fischer lost to Benko on the same day.

There are other variations (with a different first move), but they achieve a mate in 4. Only solutions starting with Bc4 can achieve a mate in 3.

https://twitter.com/olimpiuurcan/status/1166374143320715264?lang=en

White to checkmate in 3 moves.

Useful Links

Here’s agadmator’s Lichess Profile https://lichess.org/@/agadmator

Here’s agadmator’s Lichess Team https://lichess.org/team/agadmators-team

Here’s agadmator’s video on Puzzle #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wCJalNkTEI&t=425s

Here’s agadmator’s video on Puzzle #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQiYWl9Vb_g

Here’s agadmator’s video on Puzzle #3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQWjkA5RVvo

Here’s agadmator’s video on Puzzle #4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUg0eYSorPM

Here’s agadmator’s video on Puzzle #5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvMftUQJl5Q

Here’s the original Article by Frederic Friedelon on Puzzle #1 en.chessbase.com/post/solution-to-a-truly-remarkable-study

Here’s the original note by Edward Winter on Puzzle #5
https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter126.html?fbclid=IwAR1DxNvsFznhxtBPFEUccMoaLtonzibat3C85pi1Cy6ZgoBuwcyJBPm3Fn0#CN_9043, at 9043