Play Against the Petrov by Playing the Petrov!

My solution to the first puzzle was slightly different:



White makes an "extra" queen move early, but this is offset by White's king's reaching the h3 square in the fewest possible moves.

Hi David,

There will be other solutions as I had to repair it. Originally I was shown this.


I solved it, thanked him and then pointed out the position was illegal
because there could not have been an under promotion as all 8 pawn are still there..

I then put the class onto finding a way of making lit legal. One of them came
up with idea of removing the a7 pawn and moving the LSB to d1.
Whether or not it stands the test of a proof game I do not know.

@greenpawn34 said
Hi David,

There will be other solutions as I had to repair it. Originally I was shown this.

[fen]8/6K1/8/8/6pQ/8/ppppppp1/bbrrrqk1 b - - 0 1[/fen]
I solved it, thanked him and then pointed out the position was illegal
because there could not have been an under promotion as all 8 pawn are still there..

I then put the class onto finding a way of making lit legal ...[text shortened]... a7 pawn and moving the LSB to d1.
Whether or not it stands the test of a proof game I do not know.

In your repaired version, put the wK on g8 and there's only one solution.

Hi BigDog,

Wow, was it as close as that to being a solo proof game.

By chance is there any way to see the game with the King on g8.
I'll play it out with the wee lad who showed it to me.
He shows me one every week, last week he arrived 15 minutes
early to show me that last one. I felt I had to be careful how I
explained it was illegal rather than jump on it. I think I got it right,
I do not want him to give up showing me his puzzles but I am
dreading getting a real tough one I cannot solve right away,

@bigdogg said
In your repaired version, put the wK on g8 and there's only one solution.

If one is a problem purist, the d-pawn might also be removed (being that it doesn't seem to affect the solution).

@greenpawn34 said
Hi BigDog,

Wow, was it as close as that to being a solo proof game.

By chance is there any way to see the game with the King on g8.
I'll play it out with the wee lad who showed it to me.
He shows me one every week, last week he arrived 15 minutes
early to show me that last one. I felt I had to be careful how I
explained it was illegal rather than jump on i ...[text shortened]... ive up showing me his puzzles but I am
dreading getting a real tough one I cannot solve right away,

Here's a Proof Game. David's right that there's no need for a pawn on d2, so I left that one out.

@bigdogg said
Here's a Proof Game. David's right that there's no need for a pawn on d2, so I left that one out.

Hm yes, but now I can only find a solution in 10:

What did I miss?

(Edit: never mind. In this position, David's approach requires two extra moves, Greenpawn's does not.)

Thanks lad,

I know the wee boy (he is 8-9) will be thrilled by this. As I am so it
will be me turning up 15 minutes early on Wednesday to show him.
I can show him this thread, we have a large screen that goes online in
the club. so going through the game will not be a problem.
(I'll see if I can find out from what site he got the original. )

Thanks Again.

@greenpawn34 said
Thanks lad,

I know the wee boy (he is 8-9) will be thrilled by this. As I am so it
will be me turning up 15 minutes early on Wednesday to show him.
I can show him this thread, we have a large screen that goes online in
the club. so going through the game will not be a problem.
(I'll see if I can find out from what site he got the original. )

Thanks Again.

Hi Geoff,
I'm interested to hear how it went.

David

Hi David,

Chaos!

My class arrived and just as I was telling the lad about the interest his puzzle had caused,
(He said he got from chess vibe.) When suddenly into the club came 18-19 Chinese
chess players who had been invited to the club by the President but never told me!

They were on a chess playing tour of Britain, their next stop the following day
was Manchester, then I believe Liverpool and from there I'm not too sure

So I had to take on the role of tourist guide, something I've never minded and enjoyed.
I got on the phone to the lad who has the important keys to all the good stuff locked away,
'come quick the club has been invaded.'

I paired up my class with the junior Chinese players and the elder players were treated
to seeing all the trophies, old fashined sets and clocks and the signatures in the vistors book
of Alekhine, Capablanca, Euwe, Blackburne etc... They too signed the book...in Chinese!

The class was meant to end at 19:30. Everyone was still there at 21:00. Good fun.