The Missing King

Another chess puzzle from the book by Dudeney:

Set up the board 8/5PK1/5B2/4r3/8/8/8/8

The story goes that in a game between Mr Black and Mr White, Black was in difficulties, and as usual was obiliged to catch a train. So he proposed that White should complete the game in his absence on condition that no moves whatever should be made for Black, only for White. Mr White accepted, but to his dismay found it utterly impossible to win the game under such conditions! Try as he would, he could not checkmate his opponent.

The question is: on which square did Black leave his king?

White may leave Black in check as often as he likes, for it makes no difference, as he can never arrive at a checkment.

According to the answer, there is only one possible solution.

Enjoy your weekend!

In peace

CJ

Originally posted by CalJust
Another chess puzzle from the book by Dudeney:

Set up the board 8/5PK1/5B2/4r3/8/8/8/8

The story goes that in a game between Mr Black and Mr White, Black was in difficulties, and as usual was obiliged to catch a train. So he proposed that White should complete the game in his absence on condition that no moves whatever should be made for Black, only fo ...[text shortened]... ing to the answer, there is only one possible solution.

Enjoy your weekend!

In peace

CJ

on square b2?

Originally posted by Mephisto2
on square b2?

Put yourself at the top of the class!

Originally posted by CalJust
Put yourself at the top of the class!

Confused, why can't white queen the pawn and put Q c1, K d1, B g8 to mate the king on b2?

Originally posted by iamatiger
Confused, why can't white queen the pawn and put Q c1, K d1, B g8 to mate the king on b2?

Because the bishop is a dark-square bishop.

I don't understand the notation used to set up the board. could someone translate it to algebraic or show me how to read it?

Originally posted by Bill Ding
I don't understand the notation used to set up the board. could someone translate it to algebraic or show me how to read it?

Here is a copy of the related section of the FAQ in the Help. That should be enough to read the position.

"What is a FEN?
A FEN is a representation of a single position in a game of chess. Here is the FEN of the position after white makes the first move of the game - PK4.

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b QKqk e3 0 1

The first part of the FEN gives the position of the pieces on the board. Lower case letters indicate black pieces, upper case letters indicate white pieces and numbers represent the number of empty squares between pieces. The FEN reads from the top-left of the board to the bottom-right of the board.


The b indicates that it is black's turn to move.
The QKqk indicates that both sides have queen-side and kind-side castling still available
e3 indicates that square e3 is open to an en passant capture.
The 0 shows that no moves have been made since the last pawn move or piece capture.
If this reaches 50, the game is drawn (except in certain, defined, end-games).

The final 1 shows that this is the first move of the game. This number is incremented directly after each of black's moves."

That is a complicated method. I still don't understand the 8 thing. Aren't there only 6 empty ranks between pawns at the start of the game? Sorry to be a pest.

Originally posted by Bill Ding
That is a complicated method. I still don't understand the 8 thing. Aren't there only 6 empty ranks between pawns at the start of the game? Sorry to be a pest.

Never mind I figured it out--the 8 squares are the rank not the file. I still think it's too complicated for me.

Originally posted by Bill Ding
Never mind I figured it out--the 8 squares are the rank not the file. I still think it's too complicated for me.

let's go through it:

Set up the board 8/5PK1/5B2/4r3/8/8/8/8

8-th rank empty
7th rank: 5 empty, white Pawn on f7, white King on g7, 1 empty
6th rank: 5 empty, white Bishop on f6, two empty
5th rank: 4 empty, black rook on e5, 3 empty
4th, 3thd, 2nd and 1st ranks: empty

In other words:
White: f7, Kg7, Bf6
Black: Re5, king missing

Originally posted by Mephisto2
let's go through it:

Set up the board 8/5PK1/5B2/4r3/8/8/8/8

8-th rank empty
7th rank: 5 empty, white Pawn on f7, white King on g7, 1 empty
6th rank: 5 empty, white Bishop on f6, two empty
5th rank: 4 empty, black rook on e5, 3 empty
4th, 3thd, 2nd and 1st ranks: empty

In other words:
White: f7, Kg7, Bf6
Black: Re5, king missing

Ok I got it now. Thanks. Now I can set up the positions. I have never seen FEN before.

a man leaves his home in search of the golden city on the road he meets a farmer who tells him that on the way he will reach a cross road one going left ond one going right one leading to the golden city the other to certain death standing at the crossroad stand two knights one who only tells the truth the other only lies,not knowing which is which it is to them that he has to ask the way

Originally posted by nicodelvec
a man leaves his home in search of the golden city on the road he meets a farmer who tells him that on the way he will reach a cross road one going left ond one going right one leading to the golden city the other to certain death standing at the crossroad stand two knights one who only tells the truth the other only lies,not knowing which is which it is to them that he has to ask the way

"If I were to ask you if this road leads to the golden city, would your answer be no?"

Originally posted by chasparos
"If I were to ask you if this road leads to the golden city, would your answer be no?"

you can only ask one question so that weather its the knight that tells only lies or the one that tells only the truth the answer will be the same

a man leaves his home in search of the golden city on the road he meets a farmer who tells him that on the way he will reach a cross road one going left ond one going right one leading to the golden city the other to certain death standing at the crossroad stand two knights one who only tells the truth the other only lies,not knowing which is which it is to them that he has to ask the way he can only ask one question so that it does not matter which knight it is the answer that he will receive will lead him to the golden city.
what question does he ask?