'Chess Opening' series from wtharvey.com



Here are some chess puzzles from the games of Henry Bird.
The color disk on the diagram indicates who moves first.

Solutions are between the brackets under each puzzle.
Drag your cursor from one bracket to the other.

a)
Black mates in 3.
NN vs Henry Bird, England, 1850
N1bk4/pp1p1Qpp/8/2b5/3n3q/8/PPP2RPP/RNB1rBK1 b - - 0 1
[ ...Ne2+ if Kh1 Ng3+ Kg1 Rxf1# ]

b)
Black mates in 3.
William Steinitz vs Henry Bird, London, 1866
3r1rk1/p1p4p/8/1PP1p1bq/2P5/3N1Pp1/PB2Q3/1R3RK1 b - - 0 1
[ ...Be3+ if Rf2 Qh2+ ]

c)
Henry Bird vs H Gifford, Paris, 1878
6r1/4BQ2/1p2p2k/p2pP2p/P2P2qN/1P4P1/7K/4q1R1 w - - 0 1
[ Bf8+ Rxf8 Qxf8+ Kh7 Rxe1 ]

d)
White mates in 4.
Henry Bird vs Claus Pitschel, Paris, 1878
b1r1q2k/2r4p/3QpPPn/p1BpNp2/pp1P1P2/3PP3/3KB3/2R3R1 w - - 0 1
[ g7+ if Kg8 Qf8+ ]

e)
White mates in 3.
Henry Bird vs NN, London, 1886
rnb1k2r/ppppbN1p/5n2/7Q/4P3/2N5/PPPP3P/R1B1KB1q w - - 0 1
[ Nd6+ Kd8 Qe8+ w/Nf7# ]

1a)
mate in 3
NN vs Henry Bird

Other English GMs
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