Now that I’ve started using circles, I’m literally trying to get out of CTB’s Stage One as fast as I can. Why? If you’ll look to the right and see, I already know most – if not all – of the mating patterns. I can solve most of the problems in two to five seconds. Here’s an interesting, though easy, one I’ve been practicing:
In this highly unlikely position, black mates in 1. Please pardon the reversed letter and number markers on the board – I forgot to flip it when I set up the position in Fritz. Most beginners would be tempted to move their pawn to f5. However, most beginners do not know the en passant rule. The correct answer, of course, is Nc3#.
