During playtesting for my new online chess variant, this position came up and on further study, it strikes us as one of the more incredible chess problems we've ever seen.
It is White to move, and without using a computer, you must find a mate in 11 moves for White, who must immediately counter Black's threat of ...Qg1#.
There are also longer mates for White, but the 11 move one is the shortest one. I will post the line in a few days, unless someone finds it and posts it in the interim.
I should tell you that if you discover the line, you might be amazed at the profoundness of White's 7th and 8th moves. Again, other mates are there to be had, but these two non-obvious moves lead to the SHORTEST mate. What is especially profound is that White must calculate that his 8th move gives Black a free chance to do something besides get out of check -- with which Black can do nothing! A very hard-to-fathom idea, one that most players would dismiss without the proper exploration.
But then again, I'm not a regular chess player. If Tom O'Donnell finds the line and says White's 7th and 8th moves are remarkable, that will really mean something.
A further note: this is obviously a contrived position, like most chess problems. It could never occur in standard chess. Black has promoted a pawn to a Queen and is up a Queen, yet Black's two Queens have somehow removed themselves from the vicinity of White's lonely exposed King. Not only that, but both White and Black have pawns on the 7th rank, on the same file!
It is White to move, and without using a computer, you must find a mate in 11 moves for White, who must immediately counter Black's threat of ...Qg1#.
There are also longer mates for White, but the 11 move one is the shortest one. I will post the line in a few days, unless someone finds it and posts it in the interim.
I should tell you that if you discover the line, you might be amazed at the profoundness of White's 7th and 8th moves. Again, other mates are there to be had, but these two non-obvious moves lead to the SHORTEST mate. What is especially profound is that White must calculate that his 8th move gives Black a free chance to do something besides get out of check -- with which Black can do nothing! A very hard-to-fathom idea, one that most players would dismiss without the proper exploration.
But then again, I'm not a regular chess player. If Tom O'Donnell finds the line and says White's 7th and 8th moves are remarkable, that will really mean something.
A further note: this is obviously a contrived position, like most chess problems. It could never occur in standard chess. Black has promoted a pawn to a Queen and is up a Queen, yet Black's two Queens have somehow removed themselves from the vicinity of White's lonely exposed King. Not only that, but both White and Black have pawns on the 7th rank, on the same file!
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