White to mate in 1

White to move and mate in 1 from a 9th Century chess puzzle by the Grandmaster Al Adli.

Originally posted by Freddie2006
White to move and mate in 1 from a 9th Century chess puzzle by the Grandmaster Al Adli.

[fen]3K4/8/2rkb3/Nq1p4/5P2/8/8/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]

errr....How?

Nb7, provided that the queen is a 9th Century queen who can only go 1 square.

Originally posted by DeepThought
Nb7, provided that the queen is a 9th Century queen who can only go 1 square.

ahh....that would explain it.

Originally posted by DeepThought
Nb7, provided that the queen is a 9th Century queen who can only go 1 square.

Incomplete explanation, but correct move.

Originally posted by DeepThought
Nb7, provided that the queen is a 9th Century queen who can only go 1 square.

Actually I think it's more that in that era a stalemate was a loss for the person forcing the stalemate. Hence Nb7+, Qxb7 and white wins.

Originally posted by zebano
Actually I think it's more that in that era a stalemate was a loss for the person forcing the stalemate. Hence Nb7+, Qxb7 and white wins.

Really?

Originally posted by zebano
Actually I think it's more that in that era a stalemate was a loss for the person forcing the stalemate. Hence Nb7+, Qxb7 and white wins.

too bad Qxb7 does not result stalemate...

Originally posted by Freddie2006
Incomplete explanation, but correct move.

The Queen used to be the Counselor, and moved only one diagonal square at a time.

Originally posted by zebano
Actually I think it's more that in that era a stalemate was a loss for the person forcing the stalemate. Hence Nb7+, Qxb7 and white wins.

I think you have it backwards-- stalemate was a win for the person forcing the stalemate.


Edit: this page has a summary of old chess rules: http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/OldRules.html (can't vouch for its accuracy).

Originally posted by Freddie2006
White to move and mate in 1 from a 9th Century chess puzzle by the Grandmaster Al Adli.

[fen]3K4/8/2rkb3/Nq1p4/5P2/8/8/8 w - - 0 1[/fen]

I take it Grandmaster Al Adli didn't live in the 9th century...

Originally posted by zebano
Actually I think it's more that in that era a stalemate was a loss for the person forcing the stalemate. Hence Nb7+, Qxb7 and white wins.

white does have a pawn to move....