Two award-winning chess compositions by Piotr Ruszczyński
Piotr Ruszczyński 1st Prize, Szachy, 1972 FIDE Album 1971-1973
Mate in Two Moves
Solution: The key 1. Qa6! gives the black king three flight squares and threatens 2. Q×b5#. Black's defenses are followed by seven different battery mates:
1...Kb4 2. Nc6#
1...Kc5 2. N×b5#
1...Kd3 2. Nc2#
1...Qe8 2. Ne6#
1...Q×f5 2. N×f5#
1...Q×e2 2. N×e2#
1...Qf3+ 2. N×f3#
Piotr Ruszczyński 1st Prize, M. Vukcevich Memorial Ty., 2004 FIDE Album 2004-2006
Mate in Three Moves
Solution: The key is 1. Qf6! with the threat 2. f×g3+ K×e1 3. Bd2#. In the two main variations, black Grimshaw interference on the square c3 is exploited with anticipatory shut-offs from a white half battery.
After 1...Bc3:
2. Nc2! (threatening 3. Bd2#)
2...B×f6 3. Be3# (using the anticipatory shutoff on c2)
2...B×b2 3. B×b2#
2...Be1 3. Ne3#
After 1...Rc3:
2. Bd2! (threatening 3. Nc2#)
2...Rf3 3. Nd3# (using the anticipatory shutoff on d2)
