En PAssant to Helpmate in 4

I asked, in passing, how many possible en passant
captures there were in a normal game of chess.

Most 'normal' players say 6 as they think the a & h-pawns get marroned.

It's one of those questions that player's sometimes trip up on.

Like this one.
How many moves does the Knight make on a Knight's Tour?

64 - wrong. It's 63.

OK back to the En Passant question.

Heinzkat came back with 8 (correct) and supplied this joyful game.

1. a4 Nf6 2. a5 b5 3. axb6 Ng8 4. b4 Nf6 5. b5 a5 6. bxa6 Ng8 7. c4 Nf6 8. c5 d5 9. cxd6 Ng8 10. d4 Nf6 11. d5 c5 12. dxc6 Ng8 13. e4 Ra7 14. e5 f5 15. exf6 Ra8 16. f4 Ra7 17. f5 e5 18. fxe6 Ra8 19. g4 Ra7 20. g5 h5 21. gxh6 Ra8 22. h3 Ra7 23. h4 Ra8 24. h5 g5 25. hxg6

Giving us this pretty picture.



And from here you have to find the Help Mate in 4.

Black goes first and helps White to mate him on White's 4th move.

Stipulation:

See those 8 passed pawns on the 6th rank?
They are not allowed to move and Black cannot capture any pawns.
Apart from that they are normal pawns (they still attack the 7th.)
So the King cannot move (or can it)?.

I posted this by mistake on the Chess only site. I know. I'm a Dork.
I left it there - I wonder what will happen now?

Hey I have just invented an inter Forum competition.
I'll spend what's left of my lunch break seeing who gets it first.

Mr Admin Chap - please don't give me a row.

Much easier than your previous one with 2 rooks and a knight! (i know now i'm a very very average player...took me about 20 minutes of frustration before i began too look for non-orthodox (illegal!) mating patterns !)

this one i solved in about 1 min: obviously a knight mates, g7 looks fine since it's controlled only once

1...Rh7 2.Nh3 Rf7 2.Nf4 Be7 3.Nh5 Rf8 4.Ng7 mate

Good this Forum beat the other Forum.

They are just complaining that I posted a 'non chess, item.

I have to get back to work so onto the next one.

Are you having fun?

Same original position (8 pawns on the 6th)

Helpmate again, same rules but this time Black
must castle (0-0) and they get mated. I get it in any ugly 5.
(please improve)

I 'm on the post screen - there is no way of telling which
forum you in. If I'm in the Games bit I'll Scream.

I was posting on both forums and playing my games
all at the same time (and eating a desk lunch)
No wonder I got confused.

When you have solved that - you know what's next.

Same rules only this time Black must 0-0-0 and then get mated.
(I'm still working that one out).

Originally posted by greenpawn34
[b]Good this Forum beat the other Forum.





Same original position (8 pawns on the 6th)

Helpmate again, same rules but this time Black
must castle (0-0) and they get mated. I get it in any ugly 5.
(please improve)

5 moves? i don't think it's possible
the only mating square is e7, and you must block h8 so a solution could be
1.Bg7 2.Ne7 3.00 4.Bh8, now 2 moves needed to get the queen away from e7: 5.Qc7 6.Nd7 or Bb7 Qc8 etc

oh now i think i see ! the queen has to be taken ! so it's . 1.Bg7 Nc3 2.Ne7 Nd5 3.Qc7! Nxc7 4.00 Nd5 5.Bh8 Nxe7 mate!
very nice! still pretty simple but not trivial as the previous one, because of this trick (one at first get to think only black moves are relevant, so easy to forget this capture)

I got:
1 N-e7 N-f3
2 B-g7 N-g5
3 0-0 R-a2
4 K-h8 R-a1
5 R-g8 N-f7#

Originally posted by greenpawn34

Same rules only this time Black must 0-0-0 and then get mated.

and:
1 N-d7 N-c3
2 B-b7 N-b5
3 Q-e7 R-h2
4 0-0-0 R-h1
5 N-b8 N-a7#

Good. yeah too easy.

I had that one with 0-0-0 but had not looked for duels.
I don't mind them but if there are more than three then it's silly.

The idea of using the same position to concoct different puzzles
is something I use when I have a class with a demo board.

You cannot spend ages setting up different positions so I have
a few positions where you can get loads of OTB normal chess
ideas across.

But I will use this position next time I have a class of kids and want
to introduce them to the magical world chess problems.

I like your Knight puzzles. I don't have a set here at work
(it was confiscated). Though I think I have the first one.
(possibly seen it before).