Another retro

.... but harder. The position is reached after white's 14th move. How did the game go?

Originally posted by Mephisto2
.... but harder. The position is reached after white's 14th move. How did the game go?

[fen]rn6/pp1pppp1/1pqk1n1p/8/8/8/PP1PPPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQ - 0 14[/fen]

1.c4 Na6 2.Qb3 Rb8 3.Qb6 cxb6 4.c5 Qc7 5.c6 Qd6 6.c7 Qc6 7.cxb8=Q
Kd8 8.Qa8 Kc7 9.Qxc8+ Kd6 10.Qxf8 Nf6 11.Qg8 h6 12.Qh7 Ra8 13.Qc2 Nb8 14.Qd1

Who composed it? I'd guess one of the Denkovski's.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
1.c4 Na6 2.Qb3 Rb8 3.Qb6 cxb6 4.c5 Qc7 5.c6 Qd6 6.c7 Qc6 7.cxb8=Q
Kd8 8.Qa8 Kc7 9.Qxc8+ Kd6 10.Qxf8 Nf6 11.Qg8 h6 12.Qh7 Ra8 13.Qc2 Nb8 14.Qd1

Who composed it? I'd guess one of the Denkovski's.t

That was fast! The move-over of the black rook from h8 to a8 is not obvious at all.

The author is G. Donati, published in Problem Paradise 10, summer 1998.

Originally posted by Mephisto2
That was fast! The move-over of the black rook from h8 to a8 is not obvious at all.

I actually found that particular part quickly...White needs to promote fast, and Black's QR is the only piece available to sacrifice. The maneuvering of the black King and Queen held me up a bit...I got tunnel vision playing 6...Nf6?? which fails because White can't play Qxc8 fast enough.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
I actually found that particular part quickly...White needs to promote [b]fast, and Black's QR is the only piece available to sacrifice. The maneuvering of the black King and Queen held me up a bit...I got tunnel vision playing 6...Nf6?? which fails because White can't play Qxc8 fast enough.[/b]

Well, it took me a lot longer (which is not a surprise because I am not very experienced in this).

So, let's scale up the difficulty level:



The position after white's 36th move. How did the game go?

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Well, it took me a lot longer (which is not a surprise because I am not very experienced in this).

So, let's scale up the difficulty level:

[fen]r1bq1bnr/4p1pp/2n3pP/B5kP/B1R3P1/1Q1P4/p3P2N/b1K2RN1 b - - 0 27[/fen]

The position after white's 36th move. How did the game go?

My solution (some moves can be interchanged)

1.a4 Na6 2.a5 Nb4 3.a6 Na2
4.b4 bxa6 5.b5 Nb4 6.b6 a5
7.b7 a4 8.b8=Q a5 9.Qb6 a3
10.Qg6 a4 11.c4 a2 12.c5 a3
13.c6 dxc6 14.h4 c5 15.h5 c4
16.d3 c5 17.Nd2 c3 18.Ndf3 c2
19.Bd2 c1=Q 20.Rh4 Qc4 21.Nh2 Qg4
22.h6 Qh3 23.gxh3 c4 24.Bg2 c3
25.Rc4 c2 26.h4 c1=Q 27.h5 fxg6
28.Bc6+ Kf7 29.Ba4 Nc6 30.Ba5 Qe3
31.Qb3 Qg3 32.Kd2 Kf6 33.fxg3 Kg5
34.Rf1 a1=B 35.Kc1 a2 36.g4

It's nice to promote queens just to "sacrifice" them in the end! 😉

Originally posted by fetofs
My solution (some moves can be interchanged)

1.a4 Na6 2.a5 Nb4 3.a6 Na2
4.b4 bxa6 5.b5 Nb4 6.b6 a5
7.b7 a4 8.b8=Q a5 9.Qb6 a3
10.Qg6 a4 11.c4 a2 12.c5 a3
13.c6 dxc6 14.h4 c5 15.h5 c4
16.d3 c5 17.Nd2 c3 18.Ndf3 c2
19.Bd2 c1=Q 20.Rh4 Qc4 21.Nh2 Qg4
22.h6 Qh3 23.gxh3 c4 24.Bg2 c3
25.Rc4 c2 26.h4 c1=Q 27.h5 fxg6
28.Bc6+ Kf7 29.Ba4 Nc6 30.Ba5 ...[text shortened]... 1 a1=B 35.Kc1 a2 36.g4

It's nice to promote queens just to "sacrifice" them in the end! 😉

Wow!
However, I copied the wrong position into the FEN. Here is what it should be:



Again, position after white's 36th move.

edit. my apologies. I am afraid this one is a bit more difficult.

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Wow!
However, I copied the wrong position into the FEN. Here is what it should be:

[fen]1n2rb1r/1b2pPpp/2n3pP/B5kP/2R2RP1/3Q1N2/3qP3/1K1B2N1 b - - 0 36[/fen]

Again, position after white's 36th move.

edit. my apologies. I am afraid this one is a bit more difficult.

1.h4 c5 2.h5 c4 3.Rh4 c3 4.Rc4 b5 5.g4 b4 6.Bg2 b3


7.Bc6!! Paradoxically pinning the pawn that must promote. The reason is very subtle. This permits white to make the productive move Ba4 later. 7.Be4?? ends up with White stuck for useful moves ~20 moves later...

7...bxa2 8.b4 a5 9.b5 a4 10.b6 a3 11.Ba4 Nc6 12.b7 d5 13.b8=Q d4 14.Qd6 d3 15.Qg6 dxc2 16.d3 fxg6 17.Bd2 c1=B 18.Qb3 c2 19.Ba5 Bh6 20.Nd2 c1=B 21.Nf1 Bcg5 22.f4 Kf7 23.O-O-O a1=B 24.fxg5 a2 25.gxh6 Kf6 26.Nh2 Kg5 27.Rf1 Bf6 28.Rff4 a1=B 29.Kb1 Bae5 30.d4 Bb7 31.dxe5 Qd2 32.exf6 Re8 33.f7 Nf6 34.Qd3 Nd7 35.Bd1 Ndb8 36.Nhf3+

Quadruple Frolkin theme with black Bishops. Impressive construction!

EDIT: wQ Frolkin thrown in for good measure.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
1.h4 c5 2.h5 c4 3.Rh4 c3 4.Rc4 b5 5.g4 b4 6.Bg2 b3
[fen]rnbqkbnr/p2ppppp/8/7P/2R3P1/1pp5/PPPPPPB1/RNBQK1N1 w[/fen]

7.Bc6!! Paradoxically pinning the pawn that must promote. The reason is very subtle. This permits white to make the productive move Ba4 later. 7.Be4?? ends up with White stuck for useful moves ~20 moves later...

7. eme with black Bishops. Impressive construction!

EDIT: wQ Frolkin thrown in for good measure.

Fantastic! The puzzle is by M. Caillaud, published in Europe Echecs, 1983, and won a first prize. It is a rare construction with 4 promoted bishops being captured/disappeared, and a few non-obvious elements like you mentioned one. Great job. You are not in my league.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
[b]1.h4 c5 2.h5 c4 3.Rh4 c3 4.Rc4 b5 5.g4 b4 6.Bg2 b3
[fen]rnbqkbnr/p2ppppp/8/7P/2R3P1/1pp5/PPPPPPB1/RNBQK1N1 w[/fen]

7.Bc6!! Paradoxically pinning the pawn that must promote. The reason is very subtle. This permits white to make the productive move Ba4 later. 7.Be4?? ends up with White stuck for useful moves ~20 moves later...

7. ...[text shortened]... eme with black Bishops. Impressive construction!

EDIT: wQ Frolkin thrown in for good measure.

My solution had some value - I played Bg2-c6-a4!😀

Originally posted by Mephisto2
Fantastic! The puzzle is by M. Caillaud, published in Europe Echecs, 1983, and won a first prize. It is a rare construction with 4 promoted bishops being captured/disappeared, and a few non-obvious elements like you mentioned one. Great job. You are not in my league.

I might have guessed Caillaud! One of the most prolific composers of this problem type, and one of the few with the chops to make something like this work.

I may not be in your league, but I hope to get there with some further practice. 😉

Originally posted by fetofs
My solution had some value - I played Bg2-c6-a4!😀

Yeah, if I only I'd looked at it, I would have saved myself about half an hour's solving time.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
I may not be in your league, but I hope to get there with some further practice. 😉

Lol 😉