Problems & Puzzles
Godfrey Heathcote, Hampstead and Highgate Express, 1905-06 (1st Prize): White to move and mate in two. (See solution)
A chess problem is a puzzle set by a composer using chess pieces on a chess board, presenting the solver with a particular task to be achieved. For instance, a position might be given with the instruction that white is to move first, and checkmate black in two moves against any possible defence. There is a good deal of specialised jargon used in chess problems; see chess problem terminology for a list.
Exactly what constitutes a chess problem, is, to a degree, open to debate. However, the kinds of things published in the problem section of chess magazines, in specialist chess problem magazines, and in collections of chess problems in book form, tend to have certain common characteristics:
The position is composed - that is, it has not been taken from an actual game, but has been invented for the specific purpose of providing a problem.
There is a specific aim, for example, to checkmate black within a specified number of moves. This distinguishes problems from positions taken from games or game-like positions where the task is simply to find the best move.
There is a theme and the problem is aesthetically pleasing. A problem's theme is an underlying idea, giving coherence and beauty to its solution. It is this aesthetic element, as much as the challenge of actually solving the problem, which makes chess problems attractive to many people.
Andrei Frolkin and Gerd Wilts, Shortest Proof Games (1991) - a collection of 170 proof games (published in Germany, but in English)
Michael Lipton, R. C. O. Matthews and John Rice, Chess Problems: Introduction to an Art (Faber, 1963)
Jeremy Morse, Chess Problems: Tasks and Records (Faber and Faber, 1995, revised edition 2001) - concentrates on maximum tasks and records
John Nunn, Solving in Style (1985) - problems seen from the point of view of the solver
John Rice, Chess Wizardry: The New ABC of Chess Problems (Batsford, 1996) - a general overview of chess problems, including an extensive A-Z of themes and terms, and 460 problems. Widely regarded as the best single-volume work in English on the subject.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Video: A Chess Problem Composed by Susan Polgar at Aged 4 (white to checkmate and win in 2)
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