La Bourdonnais' Curious Positions

Home • Learn To Play Chess • Improve Your Game • Chess History • Chess for Fun • Chess Blog

La Bourdonnais' Curious Positions
From Louis-Charles de La Bourdonnais New Treatise on the Game of Chess
Louis-Charles de La Bourdonnais (1797-1840), widely considered the unofficial world champion in the 1830s, wrote one book : 'Nouveau Traité du Jeux des Echecs' ('New Treatise on the Game of Chess'). The book covers chess fundamentals -- openings, simple endgames -- and other topics for beginners. The longest chapter, 'Positions curieuses' ('Curious positions'), was a collection of 60 tactical examples which La Bourdonnais considered particularly interesting.
Click on a thumbnail for a larger board and the solution to the puzzle. Solutions are between the brackets on each puzzle. Use your mouse to drag your cursor between the brackets and reveal the answer. There are five pages with 12 positions per page, making a total of 60 positions. Most, but not all, are White to play and win.

Go to Page: 1 2 3 4 5

025 Black to play and win Solution: [ 1...Rh3+ 2.Kxh3 Qg2+ 3.Kh4 Qxh2+ 4.Kg5 Qh6# ] 025	026 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Qh8+ Rxh8 2.Nf6+ Kg7 3.Nxd7+ Qc3 4.Bxc3+ Kh7 5.Rf7+ Kg8 6.Rg7# ] 026	027 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Rf8+ Nc8 2.Qxb7+ Kxb7 3.a6+ Kb8 4.Nc6+ Ka8 5.Rxc8# ] 027	028 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.g3 b3 2.h3 g6+ 3.Kxf6 g5 4.Kf5 g4 5.hxg4# ] 028
029 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Qg8+ Kxg8 2.Ne7+ Kh8 3.Nf7+ Rxf7 4.Rxc8+ Rf8 5.Rxf8# ] 029	030 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Nd7+ Rxd7 2.Qe5+ Qxe5 3.Rxa7 Nc7 4.bxc7+ Rxc7 5.Ra8# ] 030	031 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Qh6 Qf8 2.Qxh7+ Kxh7 3.Rh1+ Qh6 4.Rxh6+ Kxh6 5.Rh1# ] 031	032 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Nh6+ Kh8 2.Nf7+ Kg8 3.Qxg7+ Kxg7 4.Rh7+ Kg8 5.Nh6# ] 032
033 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Rf8+ Kg7 2.Bh6+ Kxh6 3.Rg8 a2 4.Rh5+ Bxh5 5.g5# ] 033	034 White forces Black to mate in 5 Solution: [ 1.Rg8+ Kh4 2.Bg5+ Kg4 3.Ng1+ Nxd1 4.Be3+ Kh4 5.Bf2+ Nxf2# ] 034	035 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Nb3+ (faster than 1.Nc6+ Ka6 2.Nxb8+) 1...Ka6 2.Nc5+ Ka5 3.Bc3 Be5+ 4.Rb8+ Bxc3 5.b4+ Bxb4 6.axb4# ] 035	036 White to play and win Solution: [ 1.Rg5+ (faster than 1.Nh3+ Kh1 2.Nf2+ Kg1 3.Rg5+ Bxg5 4.Nh3+ Kh1 5.Bxc6 Qg1 6.Qf1) 1...Bxg5 2.Nh3+ Kh1 3.Bxc6 Qg1 4.Qf1 c1=Q 5.Nf2+ Kh2 6.Qh3# ] 036

Go to Page: 1 2 3 4 5

***

Generated by Jalbum 8.1, Matrix v.4.6.5