Chess960 puzzles: Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
3823 puzzles
Mate in 1: queen to h7
Mate in 1: queen to h7 (d3)
Mate in 1: rook to h5
Mate in 1: queen to h2
Mate in 1: queen to h7 (h3)
Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g7 (f5·2)
Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e7 (f5·2)
Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e8 (b8)
Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h7 (g5·5)
Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e7
Mate in 1: queen to g2 (g6)
Back-rank mate in 2 on d1 (d8)
Mate in 1: queen to e8
Mate in 1: queen to h7 (c2)
Mate in 1: rook to e8 (e1)
Mate in 1: rook to d1
Skewer: rook to g4
Mate in 1: rook to h2 (f2)
Mate in 1: queen to f7 (h5)
Mate in 2: rook to f1 (f7)
Mate in 1: queen to h2 (c7)
Mate in 1: rook to e3
Mate in 2: queen to e1 (e3)
Mate in 1: rook to f8
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