Fernando Saavedra (1849–1922) was a Spanish priest, who lived in Glasgow during the late 19th century.
White to play. Is this game a win for White, Black, or a draw?
This game is a win for White.
1. c7 Rd6+
2. Kb5 Rd5+
3. Kb4 Rd4+
4. Kb3 Rd3+
5. Kc2! Rd4!
6. c8=R! Ra4
7. Kb3
Now Black will either lose the rook, or get mated in one. If White promoted a Queen instead of a Rook, then 6… Rc4+ would lead to 7. Qxc4, which is a stalemate.
What does this table represent?
The digits represent the minimum number of knight-moves needed to reach the respective cells, starting from the center.
Your goal is to switch the positions of the three white knights with the positions of the three black knights. What is the least number of moves required to do this?
The least number of moves required to switch the positions of the knights is 16. An example is shown below.
Next, we prove that it is impossible to switch the positions of the knights with less than 16 moves. Since the white knights occupy 2 black and 1 white squares, they need to end up on 2 white and 1 black squares, and each knight must make at least 2 moves in order to get to the opposite side, the total number of moves for the white knights should be an odd number, larger or equal to 2+2+2=6. The same applies to the total number of moves for the black knights. Therefore, the only possible way to get a total number of moves less than 16 is if both the white knights and the black knights move exactly 7 times.
We assume it is possible to switch the positions with 7+7=14 moves in total. Then, the white knight on A2 and one of the white knights on A1, A3 should make 2 moves each, and the third white knight should make 3 moves and land on a white square, either D1 or D3. Without loss of generality, we assume the knight on A1 makes 3 moves: A1-B3-C1-D3. Then, the knight on A2 should make 2 moves: A2-C3-D1, and the knight on A3 should make 2 moves: A3-B1-D2.
We make the same argument for the black knights. Since it is impossible that the white knight on A1 moves along the trajectory A1-B3-C1-D3 and also the black knight on D3 moves along the trajectory D3-C1-B3-A1, we conclude that the black knight on D1 should make 3 moves: D1-C3-B1-A3, the black knight on D2 should make 2 moves: D2-B3-A1, and the black knight on D3 should make 2 moves: D3-C1-A2.
This is only possible if:
We get a contradiction which means that the least number of moves is 16.
You have unlimited number of knights, bishops, rooks and kings. What is the biggest number of pieces (any combination) you can place on a chessboard, so that no piece is attacked by another one?
If we put 32 knights on all black squares, then no two pieces will attack each other. Now let’s see that if we have more than 32 pieces, then there will be two which attack each other. Split the chessboard in 8 rectangular sectors of size 2×4. It is not hard to see that if we have more than 4 pieces in the same 2×4 sector, then 2 of them will attack each other. Therefore we can place at most 4 × 8 = 32 pieces on the chessboard.
The following game is played under very specific rules – no pinned piece checks the opposite king. How can White mate Black in 2 moves?
First, White plays f3 and threatens mate with Qxe2. Indeed, blocking with the black rook on d4 will not help, because it will become pinned, which means that the rook on d6 will become unpinned, which will make the bishop on b6 pinned, and that will unpin the knight on c7, resulting in a mate. Below are listed all variations of the game.
1. … Rd5 2. Qxe2#
2. … Bxa5 2. Kc8#
3. … Bxc7 2. Nxc7#
4. … Bxe8 2. Kxe8#
5. … Qxe7+ 2. Kxe7#
6. … Rd2 2. Bxd2#
7. … Rxd6+ 2. Qxd6#
White to play and mate Black in 20 moves.
The moves are as follows:
Can you add all 16 black pieces on the board (king, queen, 2 knights, 2 bishops, 2 rooks, 8 pawns) and get a chess position, in which no piece is attacked by another?
Yes, you can, as shown in the diagram below.
White to play and force the black king to d3.
1. Qc3+ Ka2 2. Qc1 Kb3 3. Qa1 Kc2 4. Qa2+ Kc3 5. Qb1 Kd2 6. Qb2+ Kd1 7. Qa2 Kc1 8. Qb3 Kd2 9. Qb1 Kc3 10. Qa2 Kd3
If 4. … Kc1, then 5. Qb3 and we get to the position in move 8. If 4. … Kd1, then 5. Qb1 Kd2 6. Qb2+ and we get to the position in move 6.
White starts with e2-e4 and the game finishes with Knight takes Rook mate in the fifth move. Recreate the game.
The game proceeds as follows:
1.e2-e4 Ng8-f6
2.Qd1-e2 Nf6xe4
3.f2-f3 Nd4-g3
4.Qe2xe7 Qd8xe7
5.Ke1-f2 Ng3xh1#
White to move and mate in 6. Can you tell what is so unusual about this puzzle?
What is so unusual about this puzzle is that there is only one possible income of the game. The moves are as follows:
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