Chess Problems

Originally posted by huntingbear
8/7P/8/6Bp/1K6/8/8/1k6 w - - 0 1

White (to move) assumed that if his King went across to capture the last Black Pawn, then Black's King would run to a8. Then White would have a Rook's Pawn and a Bishop on the wrong squares, and the position would obviously be drawn. White offered a draw and Black quickly accepted, but then remarked that White had missed an easy win. Who was right?

the position as given would be won for white as he would simply queen his pawn (1. h8q)!
did you have the board reversed? then it would make more sense.

Originally posted by BarefootChessPlayer
the position as given would be won for white as he would simply queen his pawn (1. h8q)!
did you have the board reversed? then it would make more sense.

LOL! I did have it reversed. This is what I get for my laziness. I set the position up graphically on Chesspad and then copied as FEN. Unfortunately I had just been planning a move for one of my own games in which I was Black, so the board was still turned the wrong way 😳

6k1/8/8/6K1/pB6/8/P7/8 w - - 0 1

Now that's better. By the way, this puzzle was printed in The Sunday Times here in Perth in August 2002.

Originally posted by huntingbear
LOL! I did have it reversed. This is what I get for my laziness. I set the position up graphically on Chesspad and then copied as FEN. Unfortunately I had just been planning a move for one of my own games in which I was Black, so the board was still turned the wrong way 😳

6k1/8/8/6K1/pB6/8/P7/8 w - - 0 1

Now that's better. By the way, this puzzle was printed in The Sunday Times here in Perth in August 2002.

ok. now i have something to go on!
i'm pretty sure what the answer is, but will check it on a board first.
i hope i never have something like this come up in an actual game!

Originally posted by BarefootChessPlayer

i hope i never have something like this come up in an actual game!

Something like what? Playing with the board the wrong way 'round? 🙂

Originally posted by huntingbear
Something like what? Playing with the board the wrong way 'round? 🙂

no, a case of "bishop of wrong color" that is winnable with proper play!
i only once had a case like this, and the bishop was on the correct color, so i won.
over the years, i've had games in which i had three, four, five, six, and nine bishops; three rooks; and others where my opponents had multiple rooks or knights.
the only time i promote to queen is when nothing else will do.
by the way, i have started a game with the board rotated so a black square is on the right, and have to reset it, which is rather disruptive.
i know the solution to your problem for certain now, but would hardly call it "simple"!

Originally posted by huntingbear
8/2k2q2/2PpR2p/2P4P/6p1/8/6p1/4B1K1 w - - 0 1 and White draws. Enjoy.

it's been a week so i geuss i'll post this one since no one else has tried it:
1. re7+!, qxe7 (otherwise white captures the queen and wins); 2. cxd6+! and black has a problem: if he doesn't take the pawn, it picks off his queen and again white wins. he is thus faced with an unpleasant choice: 2. ..., kxd6; 3. ba4+ skewering the queen and securing at least a draw, or 2. ..., qxd6, whereupon white pins the queen with 3. bg3!, and black can take the bishop and stalemate white or not take it and lose the queen that way, which could even lead to defeat, so he probably will opt for the half point.
now a clarification of my previous post about this: i didn't mean that black doesn't take the rook--just that white must prevent mate and loss of the rook where it stands--and that requires a check by the rook.

Originally posted by huntingbear
6k1/8/8/6K1/pB6/8/P7/8 w - - 0 1.

this is winnable only because white can confine the black king to h8 and g8 while he clears the path for his a-pawn!
1. kg6!, kh8 (the black king can go only to h8 and g8, unless white moves the bishop off the a3-f8 diagonal); 2. bc3+, kg8; 3. bg7! (stalemating the king, and forcing...), a3; 4. bh6 (white keeps the king imprisoned), kh8; 5. bf8, kg8; 6. bxa3, kh8; bb4 (or anywhere else from b4 to e7), kg8; 7. a4 and ... 11. a8(q or r)#.
the odds against having such a position actually arise are high enough that i'll not bother committing this to memory. *g*

Originally posted by huntingbear
White mates in 2:
4N3/8/Q7/2pkbKn1/8/8/4N3/8 w - - 0 1
The two-mover has a quieter key...

1. qa4!
note that, if it were black's move, white would mate immediately on anything black could do. the trick, then, is to find a move that keeps all the squares guarded but "passes" the move to black.
the idea of "passing" is called a "waiting key".
remember what i said about symmetry? here the line of symmetry is the fifth rank, except for the white queen, which moves to the other side of the line to maintain the position.

Originally posted by BarefootChessPlayer
i. white to move and win:
8/2p5/3prpb1/4k3/4p3/4KP2/4NP2/2R5
ii. white to move and win:
1R6/2pk4/1P6/8/3r4/K7/P7/8

i.: white sacrifices his pieces to mate with a pawn! 1. f4+, kd5 (moving to f5 loses a rook to 2. nd4+); 2. f5!, bxf5 (what else? black can't afford to lose his bishop.); 3. nf4+, ke5; 4. rd1, c6 (else 5. rd5# ); 5. rd5+!!, cxd5; 6. nd3+!, exd3; 7. f4#(!)

ii.: black promotes first but white wins! 1. rd8!, kxd8; 2. b7, rb4!; 3. kxb4; c5+!; 4. kb5!, kc7; 5. ka6, kb8; 6. kb6!, c4; 7. a4, c3; 8. a5, c2; 9. a6, c1q; 10. a7#(!)

one thing more about the waiting key:
waht we are trying to do with this is force black into zugzwang--the idea that a player must move and has nothing but losing moves left to make. in the problem a few frames back, white "passes" and black is thus in zugzwang. the german word translates roughly as "move forced" and is quite difficult for those who are not used to certain sound combinations to pronounce: "tsook'-tsvang" in which the first syllable can rhyme with either "book" or "kook".
otehr foreign words which have found their way into chess parlance also cause pronunciation difficulties: en passant (in passing, "awn' pah-sawn'" is a fair approximation) and en prise (subject to capture, literally, "in take", "awn preez'" ). in both of these, the french nasal n is difficult to pronounce and i haven't tried. for the latter, it is not correct to say: "en prize", "en pree", or "awn pree".
the world chess federation, "fide" (fe[acute]de[acute]ration internationale des e[acute]checs) (we won't worry about how to say the long name) is "fee-day".

another problem:
white to move and win:
16/1k1P4/24/1r6/R3K3

Barefoot,
Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I'm only free for RHP on the weekends these days, and even then my in-progress games will keep me rather busy. Thanks for keeping up this thread! I'll try to have a look in here each weekend.

My 10 year old son has acquired the computer game called "Majestic Chess." He has diligently gone through each of he lessons/exercises that got him to level 2. As expected, that level offers an exercise that must be met to advance. My meager skills are no match. Using only his white king at E1, he is asked to win the game against 4 black pawns and king at respectively C7,D7,F7,G7 and E8. Is this possible? My intuition is the best he can hope for is a stalemate or draw. If I am correct, how would he achieve either one?

Originally posted by rahul1471
My 10 year old son has acquired the computer game called "Majestic Chess." Using only his white king at E1, he is asked to win the game against 4 black pawns and king at respectively C7,D7,F7,G7 and E8. Is this possible? My intuition is the best he can hope for is a stalemate or draw. If I am correct, how would he achieve either one?

whitecannot win this as it is presented.
white does not have sufficient mating material and, worse yet, black can win without much trouble! (as whte goes toward one set of pawns, the other duo advances. as long as the pawns on adjacent files are separated diagonally, the white king will be paralyzed and black can move up the other set.)
unless white is provided with more material than given, the result will be a win for the other side!

White to play and win.

8/k3P3/p3K2n/3n1p2/1N4b1/1P1p1p2/8/4B3