5 Check Mate Puzzles Made by Calgary Kids

Enjoy the craftsmanship of these Flying Minds students creating chess problems for their peers. This practice during our chess classes encourages creativity, calculation, as well as putting ones pattern recognition skills and tactical knowledge to the test. Also giving students an idea about what it takes to create a puzzle might make them appreciate solving them more as well as what parameters need to be met in order for some tactics to work. and making sure those are met and can not be circumvented in a way. It often happens that when kids try to solve their own puzzle they would either be able to find a better and simpler way that would defeat the purpose of the challenge, or that the defending site would have a clever response that would make it possible to escape and sometimes even turn the game around. After these types of discoveries the kids would have to go back to the drawing board and replace/add or remove pieces to get to their desired outcome. Yibei's Puzzle:

White to play - Mate in 3

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Bennett's Puzzle:

White to play - Mate in 4

(Keep Scrolling for Solutions) Isaac's Puzzle:

Black to play - Mate in 4

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Yichen's Puzzle:

White to play - Mate in 4

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Conner's Puzzle:

Black to play - Mate in 3

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Emmett's Puzzle:

White to play - Mate in 7

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The Process

The kids were first instructed to reverse engineer their puzzle by thinking about the checkmate first and working backwards to see interesting ways and positions that the checkmate could have originated from. Meanwhile coach Bijan would go from table to table looking for things the kids might have missed and pointing these out so the students would address these. Then they would note their finished puzzle on their worksheets before switching tables with other students. Finally every student would try to solve the puzzles their peers prepared while hoping everyone else would not be able to solve theirs. A true battle of wits. Later the solutions would be talked over by the the Instructor.

Yibei's Puzzle Solution: The speed at witch Yibei came up with this problem was fascinating. Within two minutes he had crafted the foundations for the knight check + underpromotion smothered mate. Yet this seemed to simple and after further improvement this mate in 3 Idea came to be. What I like about this puzzle is that there is multiple choices for pitfalls for first and second moves to be played, which hopefully adds to the complexity.

1. Bc2+, Kf7

2. Nd8+, Bxd8

3. cxd8=N#

Bennett's Puzzle Solution:

Before this puzzle Bennett had not Idea what a hook mate is. Yet he stumbled upon this position himself and made it more creative in his own way.

1. Be3+, Kh4

2. Rh7+, Qh6

3. Rxh6+, Kxg3

4. Rh3#

Isaac's Puzzle Solution:

A more simple but yet elegant king-hunt with options of promotion.

1 ..., Bh5+

2. Rc4, Bxc4+

3. Kg1, f2+

4. Kh1, f1=Q# or Bd5#

Yichen's Puzzle Solution:

Deflecting the king onto a square where the discovery is possible and after a few blocks, Black is in mate.

1. Rxh8+, Kb7

2. fxg4+, f3

3. Bxf3+, Rc6

4. Bxc6#

Conner's Puzzle Solution:

All of blacks moves have to be forcing here, since white is threatening a win on the back rank. With some help from his Coach, Conner was able to create his first mate in 3 problem and it involved pins, discovered checks and a bishop sacrifice.

1 ..., f2+

2. Rxh5, Nc3+

3. Kc1, Ba3#

Emmett's Puzzle Solution:

This one was quite difficult to figure out. It gives a lot of options for checks and moves that may lead to longer mates. Yet this is the shortest possible way to win here. It requires both knights, the rook and the queen as well as our king blocking off the escape in the south in order for this to work since the king has many squares to flee and blacks rooks are also well positioned for defense. One has to be careful not to give black any moves in between, Which results in a forcing mate in 7.

1. Nc6+, Ka4

2. Qd1+, Kb5

3. Nxa7+, Kc4

4. Rc8+, Kb4

5 Qd2+, Ka4 (Rook block also possible at this point)

6 Nb6#

Join the Journey

The Flying Minds Chess Club is more than just a place to play chess—it’s a space to grow, think, and shine. Whether it’s solving complex puzzles, testing new openings, or crafting masterpieces on the board, these kids are proving that the future of chess is as exciting as ever. Sign up for Classes here: https://www.flyingminds.ca/chess-club Sign up for Rated tournaments here: https://www.calgaryjuniorchess.com/CJCC/event/Registration/49517

Stay tuned for more updates and, of course, more mind-blowing puzzles.