King Hunt

Are you bored stuffing your face with chocolate eggs yet?

If you want a break between binges try working out this mating puzzle. It's taken from John Nunn's updated version of William Cozens' The King-Hunt. Petroff will be famous for ever more for bequeathing the chess world an opening with a reputation for extreme boredom. He could certainly play more energetically if he chose. Consider today's game - a casual encounter played against Hoffman in Warsaw 1844.

See if you can work out the mate from the diagram. If you're keen you'll find the mate that Petroff played in the game and another line that could have extended the game by a further four moves.

It's not so easy, certainly far too tough for me, so if you prefer you can scroll down a bit to find a position closer to the end of the game ... and if you really can't be arsed you can scroll all the way to the end and just play through an enjoyable game. That's what I'd do.

Happy Easter.

[edit: it's probably obvious from the diagrams but I've just realised I forgot to make clear it's Black to play and mate]

Hard


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Easier