Izvestia Chess Puzzle Contest

Photo courtesy: Vladimir Suvorov "Izvestia"

Hello everybody!

I just got back from my St. Valentine's 5k run which I completed in 22:38, taking third place in my age group (26-29) and 7th overall woman.

To celebrate St. Valentine's Day I invite you to solve the following 6 puzzles which are the Puzzle Contest of one of the biggest Russian Daily Newspaper "Izvestia". This competition started on January 12 and consists of 3 rounds of 2 puzzles each. Right now is the final tour so you still have a chance to send the solutions of the two last puzzles till tomorrow to sport@izvestia.ru or by post to Russia, Moscow, 127 994, Tverskaia St., 18-1 mark "Chess Competition" on your envelope, but email will arrive faster for sure :-) For those of you who know Russian, here are the 3 links to the articles of this competition: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3. You will be able to find the solutions to the first 4 puzzles in these articles.

Above 1. Ruhlis, 1968. White to start and checkmate in 2 moves

Above 2. Zepler, 1930 White to move and checkmate in 3 moves

Above 3. Khavel, 1912. White to move and checkmate in 3 moves

Above 4. Vladimirov, 2005. White to move and checkmate in 4.

Above 5. Kosteniuk, 2009. White to move and make a draw.

Above 6. White to move and win.

I hope you will enjoy solving those puzzles. I will post the solutions to all puzzles before the end of February.

Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk

Women's World Chess Champion

www.chessblog.com