Bughouse Quiz

This page contains twelve bughouse positions. You are White in each position, and your goal is to find the forced wins, subject to the following conditions:

1. The pieces you have "in hand" are shown under the diagram. You can use these pieces for piece drops, but cannot assume your partner can get you a piece that isn't there.

2. The pieces in hand for your opponent are shown above the diagram. He can drop these pieces for defense, but assume he cannot get additional pieces. For example, maybe your partner can sit, forcing your opponent to move. (In most of the positions, getting extra pieces wouldn't help your opponent anyway, but still make this assumption.)

3. Assume any sacrifices you make would not result in a loss on your partner's board. Of course, in a real game it would be prudent to check your partner's board before you go sacking the house.

By the way, these positions were not composed to create some especially difficult problems (although some of them certainly aren't easy). My objective in this quiz is to illustrate some tactical devices in bughouse. In a game situation, I'm pretty sure the average player would overlook most of the key moves in these positions -- typically, when the average player has his opponent's king in jeopardy, he just starts dropping pieces with check, hoping his instincts guide him to The Promised Land. Oh, sure, sometimes the position is so good and the offboard material so abundant that playing on autopilot actually works, but when you are close to mate, as a general rule it is worth taking a few extra seconds to make sure you have it. Remember, your partner has a game to play as well, and the sooner you force your opponent to sit, the easier it is for him.

The problems appear next. If you want to simulate game conditions, try to find the solutions as fast as you can. On the other hand, if you are relatively new at bughouse, just take your time and see if you can figure out the solutions. (As I said in the previous paragraph, the positions are here, not to stump you, but to demonstrate some tactical devices.) The answers are included after the diagrams -- to check an answer to a specific problem, click on the number for that problem.

#1	#2

#3	#4

#5	#6

#7	#8

#9	#10

#11	#12

Answers:

#1

In this position, I am sure the average player, seeing that big and powerful queen he has in hand, would immediately drop the queen on f7, chasing the opposing king to d6. Sure, he still has the initiative, but there is a way to end this game immediately: 1. B@c5+!. If Black now drops anything on d6, he takes away the king's escape square: 1...any@d6 2. Q@f7mate. King moves also lead to mate next move: 1...Kd7 2. Q@e6mate; 1...Ke8 2. Q@f7mate.


Back to questions

 

#2

The theme is interference again: White would like to get in a knight check against Black's vulnerable king, but at the moment Black has all the squares covered. So, White makes a square available by 1. Qf3+!. Black must drop a piece on f6 (of course, if he drops on f5, White just plays 2. Qxf5 -- you saw the pin, right?) and the g5 square becomes available to the knight. For example, 1...Q@f6 2. N@g5+ Ke8/f8/g8 3. Q@f7, forcing mate, or 1...N@f6 2. N@g5+ Kg6 3. Q@f7+ Kh6 4. Nxe6+ mates. (If Black is really determined to drag it out, he can play 1...P@f4 2. Qxf4 Q@f6 3. N@g5+ Kg6 4. Q@f7+ Qxf7 5. Qxf7+ Kh6 6. Nxe6+ g5 7. Qg7+ Kh5 8. Be2+ B@g4 9. Bxg4+ Kxg4 10. h3+ Kh5 11. g4+ Kh4 12. Qh6+ and mates.)


Back to questions

 

#3

Opportunities for smothered mates come along frequently in bughouse, so it pays to be aware of them. In this position, the forced mate is 1. N@h6+! Kh8 (if 1...gxh6 2. R@h8mate) 2. R@g8+! Rxg8 3. Nxf7mate. Players of conventional chess (you know, that game they play with half a bughouse set) who think their lives are incomplete because they've never pulled off a smothered mate in tournament play are playing the wrong game -- in bughouse, where smothered mates occur with regularity, their lives would be fulfilled.


Back to questions

 

#4

White sets up a killer double check to force mate in three: 1. Q@d8+! Kxd8 2. Bg5+ Kc7 (or 2...Ke8 3. Rd8mate) 3. Bd8mate. Students of chess history will note that, to create this position, all I did was take the famous game where Tartakower got mated in eleven moves and removed the queens. This is kind of a "bugification" of regular chess.


Back to questions

 

#5

Here's a position where I think some players would send a barrage of messages to their partner, begging for a queen or at least a knight. Such a shameful display! The lowly pawn is enough to force mate here: 1. g7! Black has no defense to gxh8=Qmate.


Back to questions

 

#6

Black is about to launch a crushing attack in this one, so it is essential to act quickly. White's main problem is a lack of empty squares near the Black king, so he manufactures one: 1. N@b6+! Black must capture the knight with a pawn, and the vacant square created by the either capture is enough to mate. The easy mate is 1...axb6 2. N@a7mate. The more artistic mate comes after 1...cxb6: White deflects the overloaded bishop, who has to defend two mates but can't stop both, by 2. N@e7+ Bxe7 R@c7mate (or, if you prefer, 2. R@c7+ Bxc7 3. N@e7mate).


Back to questions

 

#7

In this position, you'd probably see a lot of buggers play 1. Nxf7, figuring that if Black plays 1...Kxf7, then 2. N@g5+ draws the king out. Okay, that's not bad figuring, except Black doesn't have to play 1...Kxf7, and besides, White has a much better move that removes all doubt as to the outcome...

Best is 1. P@e6! White threatens mate two different ways, either by 2. exf7 or 2. exd7, and Black has no moves to cover both mates. If either pawn takes the e6 pawn, then White's other pawn in hand mates by dropping on the just opened square: 1...fxe6 2. P@f7mate or 1...dxe6 2. P@d7mate. It's that easy!


Back to questions

 

#8

It is easy to get sloppy when you have a strong position. Here's a case in point: lots of players in this position would immediately play 1. P@f7+, seeing the quick mate after 1...Kxf7? 2. Ne5+ Kany 3. P@f7mate. The problem is, they are assuming a blunder on Black's part -- Black should play 1...Kd7!, heading for shelter at c8, when the situation is still in doubt. The best way to play this position isn't to set up a cheap shot, it's to keep the Black king from getting to safety. So...

The main line is 1. B@f7+! Kd7 2. Bxe6+! (keeping the king out of c8) 2...Kxe6 3. Nd4+ Kd7 (or 3...Kd6 4. P@e5+ Kxe5 6. Bf4+ Kxf4 7. Qg3+ Ke4 8. Qe3mate) 4. Qf5+, denying the king a safe square once and for all. The rest is a king hunt; for example: 4...Kd6 5. Qe6+ Kc5 6. Nb3+ Kb4 7. Bd2+ Ka4 8. Nc5mate, or 4...Ke8 5. P@f7+ Kxf7 6. Qe6+ Kg6 7. P@f5mate


Back to questions

 

#9

In this position, I'm guessing most players would play 1. P@a7+, but the attack isn't clear after 1...Kxa7. Also not too convincing is 1. Qb5+ B@b7 2. P@a7+ Kxa7. The best plan is the non-checking 1. Qa6!, which creates two mating threats: 2. R@a8mate or 2. R@c8mate. Black has three moves to stop the immediate threats, but none of them prevent mate: (a) 1...B@b7 2. R@a8+! Bxa8 3. P@a7mate; (b) 1...N@b6 2. R@a8+! Nxa8 3. P@a7 mate (c) 1...N@a7 2. R@b7+ Kc8 3. Rxa7+ Kd8 4. Ra8+ and mate next move. This is a second illustration (also see position #7) of how potent double threats can be.


Back to questions

 

#10

This is the same idea you saw in #4, only a lot better disguised. The solution is: 1. R@b8+! Rxb8 2. Qxa7+!! Kxa7 3. c8=N+! Kany 4. Ra7mate! Shazam!


Back to questions

 

#11

Here's a comical position that will fascinate lovers of the bizarre. The win starts 1. R@e7+ Kd8 2. Rxe6+. That forces Black to interpose something on e7, which White takes with the bishop to keep his opponent in check: 2...any@e7 3. Bxe7+ Ke8 4. Bf6+. Black is forced to interpose again, and White takes the interposed piece with the rook this time, again to keep the king in check: 4...any@e7 5. Rxe7+ Kd8 6. Re6+. At this point, you will note, we are back at the position we had after move 2, except Black has two fewer pieces. White just continues this sequence until Black runs out of pieces to sacrifice, forcing him to sit.

The really comical part of this position is that White forces a win without actually mating Black. In fact, it's clear that White can't mate Black here, yet he wins by force anyway. A forced win without mating, what a concept!


Back to questions

 

#12

In bughouse, when one player is forced to sit, the players on the other board often wind up playing regular chess. Well, maybe we shouldn't call it "regular chess", because it isn't exactly like regular chess. There are two slight differences:

1. Some positions that would be mate in regular chess are not mate in bughouse, as there is always the assumption that a player could get a piece to stop the mate (i.e. a piece drop to interpose). This is true even if there is no chance the player will get the piece. That may sound like a trivial point, since the "not really mated" player is forced to sit anyway, but I once had a game where the "not really mated" player actually won, because he was one or two seconds ahead on his clock!

2. There is no such thing as stalemate in bughouse, again because there is always the assumption that the stalemated player could get a piece to drop. And that little quirk leads me to some weird fantasies...

Now, some may argue that the possibility of a bughouse game reaching a stalemate position has to be exceedingly remote, so the instructive value of this position can be questioned. Oh, heck, I knew that. I just thought it'd be fun to end this quiz with a little joke.


Back to questions

That's it for installment #1 in what I hope to turn into a series of bughouse quizzes. After all, these twelve positions just scratch the surface when it comes to the art of attack in bughouse. For future bughouse quizzes, I would be more than happy to include positions sent to me by other players. (Hey, each good position I get means less work for me and my limited mental faculties.) So, the next you pull off a particularly clever and instructive bughouse mate and you'd like to show the world your concept, send me the position and solution in some decipherable form. If I like the idea, I'll include it in a future quiz and give you proper credit! Here's my E-mail.

Oh, yeah, just one more thing: the format I've developed for these pages, where two positions display side by side, should work well for double board problems. As illustrations of team play, I plan to include some double board problems in future quizzes. So, any games you've won using ingenious teamwork would also be good material for a future quiz. Happy buggin'!


Back to the Ferrante chess page