Beautiful! The king moves like a scorpion and black has nothing better than submit itself, all because of zugzwang. I'm not going to spoil this for others and print the 'hidden' solution.
Need to find a game with the Scorpion King -v- the Assassin Pawn.
That puzzle, although not very difficult once you have stumbled on the first move.
Is one of those pleasing puzzles that leaves one with a wee glow once you have solved it.
Alright, now I'm trying to imagine how a scorpion moves instead of thinking about the problem. It might actually be more productive because I can't imagine what the mating position could be... But OK, I'm going to get it. I've given up on too many.
[FEN "7k/5prp/K3pN1R/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"] 1. Rh2 {White sets up a mating zugzwang. Black tries to avoid mate for as long as possible} 1... e5 2. Kb5 {The White King stalks the Black Pawn like a....Scorpion.} 2... e4 3. Kc4 e3 4. Kd3 e2 5. Kxe2 {He captures the pawn on the correct square. Black's next move is forced if he wants to avoid being mated next move.} 5... Rg2+ 6. Rxg2 h6 7. Rg8 {And that is checkmate on move 7.}
Originally posted by greenpawn34 [pgn]
[FEN "7k/5prp/K3pN1R/8/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Rh2 {White sets up a mating zugzwang. Black tries to avoid mate for as long as possible} 1... e5 2. Kb5 {The White King stalks the Black Pawn like a....Scorpion.} 2... e4 3. Kc4 e3 4. Kd3 e2 5. Kxe2 {He captures the pawn on the correct square. Black's next move is forced if he wants to avoid being mated next move.} 5... Rg2+ 6. Rxg2 h6 7. Rg8 {And that is checkmate on move 7.}[/pgn]
Your New Years Eve Puzzle
31 Dec '11 16:01
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