27 July 2009

Fiendish chess puzzle


If you're not a skilled chess player, don't even try this one.

White to move, and mate on the move. (Note you can't mate with the rook, because it would be taken by the knight).

For the answer, you will need to visit Futility Closet.

10 comments:

  1. Hooley Dooley! - reminds me why I gave up Chess! Brilliant!

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  2. Damn, I guessed what the first part of the puzzle would be - but the slightly obscure rule of the second part threw me...

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  3. So how exactly did the Black dark square bishop get behind that white pawn that hasn't moved yet?

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  4. @Anonymous - Excellent question (to which I don't have an answer).

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  5. And how exactly did the Black white square bishop get behind that black pawn that hasn't moved yet? It's definitely not a converted black pawn :-)

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  6. @Friendly - the traditional notation is that white goes up the board and black comes down. The black white-square bishop must have gotten there earlier and then the black pawn on g2 came down from h7.

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  7. How come black square is in right corner ... "white on the right" axiom only applies to chess ergo this is not chess. If I see a chess setup on the Silver Screen I generally don't try to decipher the play - I just quickly glance to make sure "white-is-on-the-right". Marginally better than 50/50 in favour of chess.

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  8. What fool would convert a pawn to a bishop, when he could have a queen? This puzzle is to clever for its own good.

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  9. @Your Move - if you would take just a moment to go to the link, you would see why the black square is in the lower right corner - it's one of the key parts of the puzzle.

    And to the last anon, in chess puzzles (and sometimes in real life), it is necessary to convert pawns to pieces other than queens in order to avoid giving an inadvertent draw.

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