The Queen in her Glory

by Andrew

I have compiled three puzzles which I hope will provide some aesthetic pleasure to the solver; they are all to do with the queen and its unique abilities.

The first is one I composed and is pretty easy (but fun, I think):

White to play and win

1.Qa1+ Kh7 (1...Qg7 2.Qxg7+ Kxg7 3.dxc6 +-) 2.Qb1+ Kh8 (2... Kg7 3.Qg1+ (or 3.Qg6+) +-) 3.Qb2+ Kh7 4.Qc2+ Kh8 5.Qc3+ Kh7 6.Qd3+ Kh8 7.Qd4+ Kh7 8.Qe4+ Kh8 9.Qe5+ Kh7 10.Qf5+ Kh8 11.Qf6+ Kh7 12.Qg6+ Qxg6 13.hxg6+ Kxg6 14.dxc6 Kf7 15.cxb7 +-

The next I found in a 100-year-old (literally) hand-me-down book called Art of Chess and is labelled in there as an "Old Classic"... who knows just how old it is?

White to play, mate in 14.

1.Qe4+ Qb7 2.Qa4+ Kb8 3.Qf4+ Ka8 (3...Kc8 4.Qf8#) 4.Qf8+ Qb8 5.Qf3+ Qb7 6.Qa3+ Kb8 7.Qg3+ Ka8 8.Qxg8+ Qb8 9.Qg2+ Qb7 10.Qxa2+ Kb8 11.Qh2+ Ka8 12.Qh8+ Qb8 13.Qa1+ Kb7 14.Qa6#

And finally a shorter one (though not easier) by Sam Loyd. 

White mates in 4

1.Qa8 g2 (1...d6 2.Qa1 Kxe2 3.Qf1+ Kd2 4.Qd1#) 2.Qg8 d6 3.Qd5 (Zugzwang) Kxc2 (3...Kxe2 4.Qxg2#) 4.Qa2#