Now Try This...

Originally posted by SwissGambit
So far, so good. There is only one possibility you did not consider. What if bQ just captured something on b2?

I thought I had covered that before - only three white units have been captured, by exf6, fxg5 and gxh4. There are no more missing white units that could have been captured on b2!

Originally posted by SwissGambit
It's legal. However, it is not the only possible last move. Convention is that white may only play e.p. if it can be proved that black's last move was b7-b5.

OK, I didn't realise that. I thought we had to prove that b6-b5 must have been black's last move, not just that it might have been.

Originally posted by Data Fly
I thought I had covered that before - only three white units have been captured, by exf6, fxg5 and gxh4. There are no more missing white units that could have been captured on b2!

That had been mentioned in previous posts, but the point that it denied the possibility of uncapture on b2 had not been mentioned until now.

SOLV'D.

Great. It that case, here is my puzzle. Mine is just an endgame technique one. White to play, is there a win with best play, and if so show all the winning lines. If it is drawn, show black's drawing technique:

Originally posted by Data Fly
Great. It that case, here is my puzzle. Mine is just an endgame technique one. White to play, is there a win with best play, and if so show all the winning lines. If it is drawn, show black's drawing technique:
[fen]6k1/6p1/8/5KPP/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]

Looks like 1-0.







Edit: in that last viewer, if 2...g6 then 3.Kxg6 (not 3.hxg6 stalemate).

Well that lasted a long time.

Hi Data,

Well at least you solved it and he solved yours - trouble is Miss Gambit
now gets another chance to post another puzzle. I hate him....

Ruxton used to give me all these studies everytime we met.
Sometimes right after a league mtch. I hate him as well.

I'd like to maroon the both of them on a desert island with just one
chessboard and one Black King between them.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Hi Data,

Well at least you solved it and he solved yours - trouble is Miss Gambit
now gets another chance to post another puzzle. I hate him....

Ruxton used to give me all these studies everytime we met.
Sometimes right after a league mtch. I hate him as well.

I'd like to maroon the both of them on a desert island with just one
chessboard and one Black King between them.

^
Thinks that would stop me.

I'd just do an illegal cluster. Black K only on the board. Add pieces for an IC.
(An illegal cluster is an illegal position that would be legal if ANY one of the pieces (besides a King) was not on the board.)

Example:

Add 3 white pawns for an IC

Solution:

Illegal - where did the black Rook come from to deliver check? All routes are barred, unless one of the white pawns is removed.

Now, the one you guys get to solve.

J. de Heer

Add the wK and 8 wP for an illegal cluster

Originally posted by SwissGambit
^
Thinks that would stop me.

I'd just do an illegal cluster. Black K only on the board. Add pieces for an IC.
(An illegal cluster is an illegal position that would be legal if ANY one of the pieces (besides a King) was not on the board.)

Example:
[fen]8/8/8/3k1Kr2/8/8/8/8[/fen]
Add 3 white pawns for an IC

Solution:
[fen]8/8/6P1/3k1KrP/6P1/8 ...[text shortened]... solve.

J. de Heer
[fen]8/8/3k4/8/8/8/8/1Q6[/fen]
Add the wK and 8 wP for an illegal cluster

Pawns on c4, d4, e4, and e5 king on g1. Am I missing the point?

Edit. Oh I have to use all eight.

I've never heard of an Illegal Cluster before. At first I thought this was one with five white pawns:


However it might be Black to move after White has just captured Black's last piece (e.g. Qxb1), or is it always White to move in these puzzles?

In any case, clearly the solution to SwissGambit's problem must involve the white queen somehow, and at the moment I can't imagine how.

Here we go:


SwissGambit's example sent me in the wrong direction (as it was probably intended to!).

What was the last move played? All information is needed, i.e. the square the piece came from and the piece it captured (if any).
(by William Cross, 1967)

Is it white R moves from G7 to H7 taking the Black bishop on H7?

Yes, well done.

white to move and mate in 6 ;-)



V. Ropke, Skakbladet 1942