Although perhaps overshadowed by what we can only refer to as the 'Jeans Incident' (looking at you, Magnus 👀), the 2024 FIDE World Blitz Championship was an enthralling competition indeed! Some absolutely fantastic chess was played, and after many many openings, mid-games and end games Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi were crowned joint champions, with Ju Wenjun winning the women's tournament. In celebration of such an entertaining chess tournament, we've compiled 5 critical positions from the open and women's tournaments. Have you got what it takes to solve these increasingly challenging checkmate puzzles?
1. Hans Niemann vs Magnus Carlsen
Easing into things at number five we have a nice and simple one for you lovely puzzlers. After Magnus blunders rook to d6 (albeit with just 6 seconds left on the clock), can you find checkmate in 1 for white?
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8
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1
SOLVED
2. Alexander Grischuk vs Fidel Corrales Jimenez
Shooting in at number two is a slightly trickier puzzle. With only 11 seconds on the clock, Fidel plays rook to c3 setting up a nice mate in 2 for white. Can you find the checkmate?
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8
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1
SOLVED
3. Bogdan-Daniel Deac vs Daniel Dardha
For our third puzzle, we have a fairly challenging checkmate. Already running out of time and still in an even position, Bogdan-Daniel played the fatal move rook from b3 to b4. This unfortunately enabled an interesting sequence that results in a checkmate for black. Can you find checkmate in 4?
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8
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1
SOLVED
4. Meruert Kamalidenova vs Aleksandra Maltsevskaya
Now it's time to move over to the women's game! After Meruert blundered bishop from d4 to e5 can you find the checkmate in 3 for black?
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8
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SOLVED
5. Anna M Sargsyan vs Alexandra Kosteniuk
Our fifth and final selection comes from round 10 of the women's tournament. In this critical position Anna found the first two killer moves almost instantaneously before Alexandra resigned. Can you find the checkmate for white?
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8
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1
SOLVED
So, that rounds up our 5 chess puzzles from the 2024 FIDE Blitz World Championship. We hope you had fun. If you're in search of more chess puzzling content there's plenty more to see on our website!