The Backward Attacking and Defending Move
By on 29 Oct 25 14:15
165 views | 1 edit | Last edit on 30 Oct 25 03:34
I have an amazing and new idea for a chess puzzle. What I do is reveal
a part of the board, one section at a time and you have to try and solve
the puzzle before the last piece of the board is in place. Try it, good luck.
Any ideas?
Is that any better?
How about now, can you solve it yet?
This one should make it a bit easier.
The complete puzzle, composed by me though I’m sure it is not an original idea.
White to play and mate in four moves.
Super fun yes?...Here is another.
kezzy - beginnerFR RHP 2018 a good wrap from an RHP player.
Black to play and mate in three.
This next one is from a book we have dived into quite a few times in
the past Tim Hardin’s excellent ‘Better Chess for Average Players.’
R. Knaak - K. Litkiewicz German Ch. 1974 (Black to play)
Black has a simple idea based on the fact the a4 Knight is being protected by the Queen.
Does 1...Nxd4, 2...Rxc1, 3...Qxa4 not just win a good central pawn. Yes? No? Perhaps?
Black missed a common yet difficult move to foresee when calculating their idea.
A backward defensive move. This has unthreaded many a finely knitted combination.
It has long been established that we human chess players, programmed to
go forward find backward attacking and defensive moves troublesome.
Examples are a plenty at all levels of the game. Here are some from
OTB events and I’ll use games where Bc1 or Bc8 was the final move.
P. Sitek - N. Sveboda Poland 2022 Wroclaw (Black to play)
1...Ne2 2.Bxe5 Ng3+ and Nxe4 look OK. Instead Black
protected the e-pawn with 1...Bf6 2.Bc1 checkmate.
In the previous games a Bishop backward move to c1 was missed.
Here are some RHP games with the same move being overlooked.
J. Westerberg - C. Johansson RHP 2024 memorial (Black to move)
1....Kh6 was the move. 1...Ng7 played and it met 2. Bc1 mate.
BiPolar - mikearmstrong RHP 2012
Black just needs to get out of the check with 1...Ke6 or 1....Kd6
What harm can it do going forward, the Bishop has to cover a1.
1...Ke4 2. f3+ Ke3 3.Bc1 mate.
fridaypub - Aanatol RHP 2022
Black is lost, in hindsight this one may have been self inflicted. 1...g4 2.Bc1 mate.
Now some backward moves for Black, a mirror of Bc1 - Bc8.
ol53 - mallys7 RHP 2025 (White to play)
1.f4 blocking a flight square. 1...Bc8 mate.
The last one and a forgiven blunder. I could have fallen for this.
To be honest I could have fallen for most of the blunders made
in this article (especially the one played in Germany in 1974)
But in this one, masterfosse - bling9er RHP 2022 (White to play)
You look at that silly Bishop on h3 and think lets improve it.
GM Daniel Naroditsky 1995-2025
The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 203896
