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White to Play
Today we have a real challenge for you. White has an attacking position. That should be clear. The question is what is the best way to proceed? The game started with a Dragon Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0–0 8.Bb3 d6? (Too slow. Black has to play the thematic equalizing move 8...d5!)9.f3 a6? (Again, ...
View solutionDoughnut Hole
If a solid piece of iron shaped as a doughnut was placed under extreme heat, what would the hole in the middle do?
View full teaser and answerBalancing Beams
The following task involves several steps, but they are out of order. Arrange them so that a person who follows the steps exactly can perform the task:
You have three heavy beams marked A, B, and C, and want to find out which one is the heaviest. You also have a scale that tells you which of any two beams is heavier, but it does not give the specific weight of any beam. In what order must you perform the following steps to determine which beam is the heaviest, and to mark it accordingly? Assume that all three have different weights.
a) Weigh A against B.
b) Weigh B against C.
c) Weigh A against C.
d) If A is heavier, skip the next three statements.
e) If A is...
White to Play
Some attacking positions have more than one way to win. Back in 1943, Smyslov won a nice game vs. Kotov. Later, in analysis this possibility arose in this position. Smyslov,as befitting a future world champion, found the best first move, although he deviated from the possibility we give here. It’s just a fun position to see all the ...
View solutionMan's Best Friend
Five men and five dogs (each man owned a dog) went hiking. They encountered a river that was swift and deep. The only way to cross it was an abandoned boat, left ashore on their side. But it would only hold three living things. Unfortunately, the dogs were edgy and could not be near another person (not even momentarily) unless its owner was present. One of the dogs attended a highly advanced, highly specialized obedience school and therefore knew how to operate the boat (as the men did) -- the other dogs lack this skill. How did the five men and the five dogs cross the river?
View full teaser and answerThe Yosef Family
In the Yosef family there are 11 children. 7 of them are girls named: Ilana, Tikva, Efrat, Ziva, Lilly, Zahava & Ronit. The rest are boys named: Ofer, Rami, Zalman & Ronny. You have to find out in which order they were born, according to the next 12 statments:
1) The eldest and the youngest are girls.
2) The second youngest starts with an R.
3) The first starts with a Z.
4) Ronny & Ronit were born one after the other, in that order.
5) Ronit is not the youngest, not the 2nd youngest.
6) The youngest child starts with a vowel.
7) The 4th has an M in his/her name.
8) Zalman & Lilly were born one after the other in that order.
9) The 7th ends ...
Balls in a Jar
You're walking down a street, when you see some people gambling on the roadside.
The dealer says:
"There are 10 black balls and 10 white balls in this jar. You are blindfolded and you randomly pick 10 balls. If 5 of the balls you picked are black and the other 5 are white, you lose $2. Otherwise you win $1."
Is the gamble fair?
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Black to Play
The Albin Counter Gambit to the Queen’s Gambit usually signals a wild and wooly fight. This game is no exception. Both players start out well. Then their move choices get interesting and even critical: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Be6 6.a3 Nge7 7.g3 Qd7 8.Bg2 Ng6 9.Qc2 0–0–0 10.b4 Ncxe5 11.0–0 d3?! 12.exd3 Nxd3? 13.Bb2 Bh3 ...
View solutionJelly Beans
Jelly Belly beans were the first jelly beans in outer space when President Reagan sent them on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger.
Three astronauts had four jelly beans left among them one night - a black, a yellow, a green and a red. No astronaut ate more than one jelly bean and the red bean was definitely eaten. According to the following statements, determine which astronaut ate which jelly bean.
1. If the second astronaut did not eat the yellow or green jelly bean, then the first astronaut ate the red bean.
2. The second astronaut ate the yellow jelly bean, unless the first astronaut ate the red jelly bean.
3. If the third astronaut did not eat the black or yellow ...
View full teaser and answerChange a Letter
By changing the third letter of each of the words below, can you make another valid word. You have to change each word such that the third letters will reveal a ten letter word when read downwards. Therefore, what now reads KRZSAPROKD will be a real word. What ten letter word is formed?
BAKE
CURE
MAZE
PEST
NEAT
ROPE
PORT
FOOD
POKE
SODA
White to Play
Today is a real lesson game. There are two big lessons courtesy of the Evans Gambit. The first one is the devastating effect of a Ba3 move that stops Black from castling. The second one is the use of using center pawns to open lines to expose the opponent’s king. This is one of the reasons the Evans is still very popular in amateur play. ...
View solutionJacks and Aces
A man has 3 cards face down on a table. One is a jack and two are aces. He knows the order but you do not. You can ask him one yes or no question, but when you do you have to point to one of the cards. If you point to an ace, he will tell the truth, if you point to the jack, he will randomly say yes or no. You have to find one of the aces.
View full teaser and answerNo Big Deal
After you have dealt about half of the 52 cards for a bridge game (with four players), the phone rings. You put down the undealt cards to answer the phone. When you return, none of the cards has been touched, and no one can remember where the last card was dealt. Without counting the cards in any hand, or the number of cards yet to be dealt, how can you finish dealing rapidly and accurately, giving each player exactly the same cards they would have received if you hadn't been interrupted?
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White to Play
The Scandinavian Defense is often misplayed by amateurs. This game is one example: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Bf4 e6 7.h3 Bxf3 (Moving the bishop back to f5 or h5 just gets g4 as a reply. For example, 7...Bh5 8.g4 Bg6 9.h4 Nd7 10.h5 Be4 11.Bd2 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 h6 and White gets the exchange anyhow, but with 4 extra moves and ...
View solutionStep in Step
A man and a boy who are walking together step out with their right feet. The boy walks three paces while the man walks two. When will they both put their left feet forward together?
View full teaser and answerGooglebunnies
Googlebunnies are creatures that come in two types (spooky and flitty) and two genders (male and female). The spooky males and flitty females always tell the truth; flitty males and spooky females always lie.
You come across 3 Googlebunnies. Determine the type and gender of each based on their statements:
A: Ask B what my type is - he will give a truthful answer. C is flitty.
B: A and I are both males. C is a female.
C: A and B are both females. B is spooky.
Which country or nation has a value of 5?
View full teaser and answerFind the Fake Coin
There are 12 gold coins. One of the coins is fake. It is known that a fake coin weighs either slightly less or slightly more than a real coin. Using a balance scale, how can you find the fake coin, and determine if it weighs less or more than a real coin, in only three weighings?
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White to Play
This game is a fine lesson in why players castle before they attack. Black thought he would cower White with his g5 pawn attack on the kingside. If you were White, how would you show Black why it wasn’t such a good idea. The game started 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Be2 Be7 6.0–0 h6 7.b3 c6 8.Bb2 Qc7 9.Qd2 g5 10.Rfd1 Nf8 11.dxe5 ...
View solutionAnimal Adventures
Five young ladies (Liz, Marge, Sam, Ella and Jenny) went on five different hiking adventures. Each walked a distance of 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 kilometers (random order). Each were able to take an extraordinary wildlife photograph in different locations (forest, meadow, mountain, river side and bushes) of different animals (rabbit, bird, deer, fox and bear cubs). From the clues below determine where and of what each girl took a photograph of, and the distance each travelled.
1. Liz walked twice as far as the girl who saw the deer. The girl who got a shot of the fox travelled one kilometer less than Jenny. The girl in the bushes was not the one who walked 5 kilometers. The girl on the riverside...
View full teaser and answerTri Ad
Each of the clues below is for a word that begins with "tri". The clues do not refer to the words themselves, but rather to the word that must be added to "tri". eg. "A description of three goods to encourage sales" would be "triad".
1. Where you would find three peas
2. Passing through three intermediate places on the way to your destination
3. To fish with three hooks and bait
4. To hurl three things at once
5. A small container for three liquids











