Chess-Based: Volume 10
Fancy a Sicilian Defense? How about a King’s Gambit? Why not try the bumper new special edition of Albcell number puzzles!
This latest collection features some of the most ambitious Albcell puzzles yet, to challenge your brain and boost your creativity – just like chess itself!
Welcome to the latest special edition of Albcell puzzles! I hope this will prove be an especially thought-provoking and stimulating collection of numerical brainteasers. Before you get stuck in, though, I thought I’d share with you how this book came about, as it’s one I’m especially proud of, and its evolution and development have been not dissimilar to its subject matter, with much toing and froing, a feeling of all is lost…and then…victory!
To be honest, I’m not quite sure exactly when I started working on this book – or, more accurately, when the idea for the book itself emerged. According to my notes, I think I finished the first set of puzzles around April 2023. As usually happens with these special editions, I always come up with a blueprint first to see what might happen with the puzzles, and then I’ll devise a particular topic. In this case, I came to the conclusion that it was possible to create a book of Albcell puzzles about chess – a game (or sport, even) that I absolutely love and play when I have the time.
Back then, I worked for a couple of months or so, focusing on several puzzles. In some respects this was a good omen, because I was inspired enough to complete some key puzzles that were important stepping stones in the whole process of developing the book. Not only did these positive signs make me happy, they also provided some reassurance that eventually I was going to finish this project at some point in the future. Although at that time – and I’m still talking about 2023 here – I had no illusions that I was going to complete this project with no interruptions.
And – Indeed – my intuition proved correct: after a couple of months I moved on to other projects that were occupying my thoughts at the time. And while I didn’t completely forget about the chess book, I postponed it somewhere at the back of my mind, in my subconscious. Of course, I always knew it was a project I was eventually going to come around to again – a bit like a comet that goes round our planet over a certain number of years. I knew it would eventually come back into my orbit…
During 2024, I came back almost by chance to this topic, and – now that I’m remembering the process – I think I worked persistently on some of the technicalities of certain puzzles that were proving tricky. I did eventually find a solution, but – although it was rather beautiful (from an artistic viewpoint, at least) – it just wouldn’t work, no matter how hard I tried and how much I thought I could fix it. I’m afraid that made me a little upset; at one point I even thought that perhaps this was a sign that I should continue with other things. Heartbroken, I put the book aside, probably at some point in 2024. And, because I was so busy with other Albcell books, I forgot about it.
In the past few months, however, the situation has changed. A few months ago I had been working overtime to finish all three books in the Albcell Smart Scholastic series for kids, and I was also preparing the German and English versions, to have them in print before I took my yearly break back home in Albania.
(As it turned out, I spent about a month there, bookended by journeys which were, quite frankly, complicated, with many parts. All I can say is that there were some surprises during the flight, back and forth, and when I was asked how the flight went I jokily answered ‘call me Odysseus’…But it was well worth it, as you’ll see!)
Anyway, not to go off at a tangent – I was back home in Albania, and while I was relaxing there, I started to create. And create. For whatever reason, in the first few days I was there, the book about chess came back into my orbit, so I (almost jokily) said ‘let’s see what I can do’. During the month I was there I devised an enormous number of puzzles – almost spontaneously. In fact, I finished the first part of the book, at which point I thought, ‘okay, well this is going somewhere!’ And then I entered The Zone: I started to make interesting and complicated diagrams that were actually a step forward in my general creativity. Needless to say I was pleased with the project again…
During this time I was so focused on the chess theme that I created several important puzzles, and I figured that I could probably finish the whole thing. I happened to have an extra computer in Albania, and a memory stick, so I had all my work with me. And when I added the chess puzzles I’d created previously to all those I’d made in Albania, I reckoned I had enough to call the book finished, at least technically: I still had to do the final assembly, a bit like constructing a building form a blueprint. I was now really confident – and happy – that I could reach my goal. But even though the book was finished, I was still experimenting with the chess idea; I couldn’t really detach myself from it (like the cut of a knife or something). There was still some inspiration left, so I created a few more puzzles spontaneously without really planning them.
Then I came back to the US and started to focus exclusively on the other vital aspects of the book: developing the final puzzles and art, and testing everything. But almost against my will, the puzzles kept coming – some really good ones, as a matter of fact – and I kept adding more to the chess book almost involuntarily. If the inspiration is there, you have to follow the vibe!
At the time I’m writing this (August 2025), I’ve started to pull everything together. But even now I’m noticing that I have diagrams I completely forgot about, so there are still a few more puzzles to add…Quite a few actually. So the final number of puzzles in this book will be considerably larger than what I initially planned! This isn’t the first time this has happened: for the pottery book I kept creating large numbers of puzzles, more than I’d ever created before, so that afterwards I could have had a second volume. Once that gate is open you can’t stop the things coming through it…
Anyway, what you hold in your hand is the final result of all that fevered inspiration and effort. I’m particularly proud of this book, because for me it marks a new era of creativity – long may it continue! I really hope you have as stimulating a journey solving these puzzles as I did creating them…
Bon chance!
