The missing piece

Hotpawn

Posers and Puzzles

29 Oct 02 20:46

Hotpawn

Dieren, Holland

Joined: 14 Sep 02
Moves: 10337

29 Oct 02 20:46

Another problem of The chess mysteries of Sherlock Holmes by
Raymond Smullyan:

I'll shorten the story.
Sherlock Holmes enters a room and sees a chess-set with a shilling
on h4, representing a missing piece. He is then challenged to deduce
what the missing piece is. Of course he succedes.

White: Kh8, Rd7, Rd8, a5, b4, c3, d3, e2, g3, h2
Black: Kb7, Na1, Nc8, a6, a7, c4, c5, d6, e7, g7
h4: a shilling, representing the missing piece

Who can tell me what the missing piece is?

Hotpawn

Dieren, Holland

Joined: 14 Sep 02
Moves: 10337

29 Oct 02 21:42

Acolyte

Now With Added BA

Loughborough

Joined: 04 Jul 02
Moves: 3790

30 Oct 02 09:34

Do we have to assume that both players played sensibly?

Hotpawn

Dieren, Holland

Joined: 14 Sep 02
Moves: 10337

30 Oct 02 09:43

Sensibly I don't know.
They played according to the rules of chess, so this position can be
reached playing from the begin-position.

Rein

Asheville

Joined: 20 Sep 02
Moves: 8123

31 Oct 02 18:03

Obviously, it is Black's move, but is there anything else we need to
know to solve this? I'm stuck, since I don't see any way to prove that
one piece is any more correct than any other. (Except that it cannot be
a Black Rook or Queen). Also, how is it that white was able to move
the rook to d7 with check? It could only have come from c7, where it
would still be checking the king. I don't see that any piece on h4 could
fix this issue.

What am I missing?

Rein

Hotpawn

Dieren, Holland

Joined: 14 Sep 02
Moves: 10337

31 Oct 02 19:36

Did the rook on d7 really come from c7?
Or did white play another last move?

To answer your question if you need to know more: no! You've got all
the information you need to solve this problem!
I must say it's rather complicated...

sintubin

Joined: 01 Dec 01
Moves: 14745

31 Oct 02 19:49

sintubin

Joined: 01 Dec 01
Moves: 14745

31 Oct 02 19:52

sorry - entered.
White's last move could have been cxd8+ promotes to rook.
but then...
Gil

Hotpawn

Dieren, Holland

Joined: 14 Sep 02
Moves: 10337

31 Oct 02 19:57

What did the pawn capture?

sintubin

Joined: 01 Dec 01
Moves: 14745

31 Oct 02 20:09

didn't figure it out yet. But the missing piece is NOT a white pawn.

sintubin

Joined: 01 Dec 01
Moves: 14745

01 Nov 02 10:11

going ahead slowly: i think it was a bishop:
- 2 knights still on the board
- with Queen or Rook white would be in check before and after blacks
last move

later , i am going to reason further from there....