White to play and checkmate in two moves
457
(Barry Peter Barnes - British Chess Magazine, Mar 1964)
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1.Bb6! (2.Nxc7#[B])
1...Re6 2.Qxe6#
1...Bc3+/Bxb6 2.Nxc3#
1...Re7 2.Nf6#
1...Rxg8+ 2.Qxg8#
1...Nd4 2.Rxd4#
Date added: 5/5/2021
458
(Henri Gerard Marie Weenink - Il Problema 1st Prize, 1931)
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1.Qe3! ~ 2.Nc3#
1...Rd3 2.Bg2#
1...Bd3 2.Qd4#
1...Be4 2.Qb3#
1...Nd6 2.Rc5#
1...Nd6 2.Qe5#
1...Bd6 2.Nb6#
1...d6 2.Qe6#
1...b4 (b:a4) 2.Bc4#
1...Rc2
2.Qd4#
2.Qd3#
Date added: 5/5/2021
459
(Herbert Siegfried Oskar Ahues - Schakend Nederland 1st Prize, 1960)
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1.Bd2! ~ 2.Bc3#
1...Be1 2.Be3#
1...Rxf5+ 2.Kxf5#
1...Nb5 2.Kg5#
Date added: 5/5/2021
460
(Alexander Berthold - Arbeiter-Schachzeitung (Wien), Mar 1925)
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aĂ—b5 ep.! - Ka5
RĂ—a7#
White is about to move at this stage of the game, so the previous move was made by black. This much is trivial, but which move did black make? There are only three black pieces on the board so we can investigate all of the possibilities:
The pawn on a7 is still on its original position from the beginning of the game, so we can eliminate that possibility. The king could have arrived at a6 from either b6 or b7. But upon further inspection, this is impossible. The black king couldn't occupy b6 on the previous move because of the presence of the white king on c5. Also, the black king couldn't occupy b7 on the previous move because of the white pawn on c6 (which couldn't move on the previous move). Thus, the conclusion is that the last move was made by the black pawn on b5. What move was that? Either b7- b5, or b6 - b5. The pawn on b5 couldn't have occupied b6, however, because of the presence of the white king on c5, so the previous move had to be b7- b5.
Date added: 7/5/2021
461
(Kenneth Samuel Howard & Alain Campbell White - Guidelli Memorial Tourney, L'Alfiere di Re, Oct 1925)
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1.Rf4! zz
1...d4 2.Rxd4#
1...Nh5/Ne6/Ne8 2.Rd7#
1...Nc1/Nc3 2.Bxb4#
1...exf4 2.Qxf4#
1...e4 2.Rxf5#
Date added: 7/5/2021
462
(Norman Alasdair Macleod - British Chess Magazine 1st HM, 1962)
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1.Bd3! (2.Rfxf7#)
1...Nd6/f6 2.Nxg6#
1...f5 2.Nxd7#
1...Rf6 2.Qa8#
1...Qf3/Qf1 2.Nxd7#/Qxh6#
1...Qf5/Qe6 2.Qxh6#
Date added: 7/5/2021
463
(Johannes Jacob Rietveld - Tijdschrift van den Koninklijken Nederlandschen Schaakbond 1st Prize, 1955)
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1.Rc4!
1...Rb1 (R~b) 2.Nc3#
1...Rxa3 (R~3) 2.Nb6#
1...Rb6
2.Nc3#
2.Nxb6#
1...Rc3
2.Nxc3#
2.Nb6#
1...Nd4 2.Rc5#
1...Ne3 (N5~) 2.Qc6#
1...Rxe6 2.Qc6#
1...Rh6 (Rg6) 2.Rc5#
1...Ne5 2.Rxe5#
1...Nxh8 (N7~) 2.Re5#
Date added: 7/5/2021
464
(Mukkur Parthasarathy - British Chess Magazine 1st Prize, Aug 1969)
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1.Qg4! ~ 2.Rc5#
1...Rxe6 2.Qxd4#
1...Nxe6 2.Qe4#
1...Qxe5 2.c4#
1...Nxe5 2.Rxd4#
1...Bxe5 2.c4#
1...Kxe5 2.Qf5#
Date added: 7/5/2021
465
(Arthur Christopher Reeves - British Chess Magazine 1st Prize, Jun 1970)
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1.Nd8! (2.Qxd6#)
1...Rxc6 2.Nxc6#
1...Be6+ 2.Rxe6#
1...Nc5 2.Qc3#
1...Bxf6 2.Bxf6#
Date added: 7/5/2021
466
(Gyorgy Bakcsi - Olympic Ty., Leipzig Comm., 1960)
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1.Ne3! ~ 2.Qe4#
1...Nf3 2.Ng4#
1...Rxd3 2.Nc4#
1...Qg6 2.Bxd4#
Date added: 7/5/2021
467
(Antonio Piatesi - L'Italia Scacchistica 3rd Prize, Aug 1970)
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1. Ba7! [2. Rd4#]
1. ... Be5/b6 2. N(x)b6#
1. ... e5 2. Nxf6#
1. ... Nf5 2. Qc5#
1. ... Rcd2 2. Nc3#
1. ... Red2 2. Nxe3#
Date added: 7/5/2021
468
(Arthur Robert Gooderson - British Chess Magazine 3rd Prize, Oct 1963)
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1.e4! zz
1...e6 2.Nc4#
1...Nf4 2.Nf7#
1...Nh4/Ne1/Ne3 2.f4#
1...exd6 2.Bxd6#
1...Nh1/Nh5/Nf1/Nf5+/Ne2/Nxe4 2.Rf5#
1...dxe3 e.p. 2.Bc3#
Date added: 7/5/2021