The 2024 Olympiad included many chess games that might be turned into chess puzzles. Grandmaster Vasyl Ivanchuk’s win on Board 2 over Grandmaster Wesley So, which contributed to team Ukraine (starting rank #15) defeating team United States (starting rank #1), is one example.
Ivanchuk versus So
So blundered with 43…R4a3,followed by 44…Re2. What 45th move did Ivanchuk play?
The games from the 2024 Olympiad might make their way into future books. In the meantime, International Master James Rizzitano created puzzles from master-level games played in 2022 and 2023 for his book 1001 Deadly Chess Puzzles.
1001 Deadly Chess Puzzles
1001 Deadly Chess Puzzles was published on February 27, 2024, by Gambit Publications. The suggested retail price for the print book is $28.50. The book has 304 pages. It is also available as an e-book ($9.95) with the interactive Lichess feature and as an app-book ($12.99).
About the author
From Gambit Publication’s website, “International Master James Rizzitano dominated New England chess from 1976 to 1989, winning 157 of 336 events in which he competed. Career highlights include victories over Alburt, Benjamin, Benko, Christiansen, Dlugy, I. Gurevich and Wolff. He has written seven books for Gambit, including How to Beat 1 d4 and Modern Chess Opening Repertoire for White.” Rizzitano’s own website is https://rizzitanochess.com/
Recent games
In July 2023, Rizzitano completed the introduction to 1001 Deadly Chess Puzzles. For the five months preceding, he had reviewed recent games of players rated 2200 and higher. From those, he selected the book’s 1001 puzzles. Rizzitano cited the games in the answer keys for each chapter. That is, he gives the first and last names of the players and where and when they played.
Difficulty level
The first chapter is called “Elementary Puzzles.” My US Chess over-the-board regular rating is floored at 2000 and my Quick Rating is 1744. I correctly solved about 50% of the elementary puzzles. Some of the solutions I missed were also missed by the players.
The PDF excerpt available on the book’s webpage has puzzles 359 to 379 from the “Intermediate Puzzles” chapter. Before purchasing the book, try those puzzles. The answers for those puzzles are also in the PDF.
Rizzitano tells which side is to move, but that’s the only clue given. You won’t know if the correct answer is winning the game or drawing it, or if the answer leads to checkmate, winning material, or equalizing. However, there is only one best line of play. Discovering that line is the challenge.
Production values
The diagrams are six to a page. The book is slightly larger than the standard trade paperback size of 9 inches tall and 6 inches wide. Each diagram is 2 inches by 2 inches, allowing for algebraic notation around all sides and for the instructions (either “White to play” or “Black to play”). The diagrams are easy to read, as is the figurine algebraic notation in the answers.
It’s a lovely book. It will be a good fit for you if you like solving challenging chess puzzles. Most of its puzzles are more challenging than the Ivanchuk versus So diagram given above, so be forewarned!
