By Lubomir Kavalek
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, April 20, 2009
Walther von Holzhausen (1876-1935), a German chess composer and player, wrote extensively on the theory of chess problems. In one of his compositions (White: Kg2,Qf1,Rd8,Bh2,P:a4; Black: Kb7, Ba7), white mates in two moves. Can you find the stunning first move and solve the problem?
I can honestly say that I saw 1. Ra8 in a heartbeat 🙂
Took me about 2 minutes 🙁
Took more than a heartbeat, but the truth is the white bishop’s coverage of the b8 square sort of suggests forcing the king to a8. There is only one obvious way to do that.
If I found it in a few seconds (Ra8), it has to be very easy 🙂
Telling us that the first move is “stunning” gives the problem away…
1. Ra8
1. …. , Kxa8 or Bb6
2. Qf3#
1. …. , Kc6 or Kb6
2. Qb5#
1. …. , Bb8
2. Qa6#
1. …. , Bc5 or Bd4 or Be3 or Bf2 or Bg1
2. Qf3#
Sorry
1. …. , B moves ( except Bb6 )
2. Qa6#
@Jose
The last variation actually
needs to be Qa6# (as b6 is uncovered with Qf3)
quote:
Telling us that the first move is “stunning” gives the problem away…
exactly 😉 First I looked at Qa6 and noticed it doesnt work so I tried Ra8
1.Ra8!! …Kxa8.
2.Qf3 checkmate.
Question
You are obviously winning
Take your time!
WHY ON EARTH MUST YOU MATE IN 2??
Maybe because of the 50 move draw rule!
Well a pawn move gives you 50 more moves.
“Because of the 50 move rule!”??
Just play Rd7+. The king moves, and take the bishop. Each capture gives you 50 more moves as well. You’re up a queen, a pawn and a bishop vs. nothing. Hopefully you can mate in 50 more moves or less.
This puzzle has, I think, some interesting variations regarding the king declining the sac and the different bishop moves, but fails as a puzzle on a different level.
The point the “take your time” poster was making, I think, is that this puzzle is a bit of over-kill. There is no punishment on the board for not finding the best move — the game is won almost no matter what move you play. You could sac the queen, the pawn and as long as the other bishop came off the board and you don’t stalemate, you’d have a simple R+K vs. K endgame, which is about the first way you learn to give checkmate.
It would be interesting to see if someone could come up with a similar puzzle that offers punishment for not finding the right move, but this might be no easy task, since the first move is not a check and doesn’t force a single line of play.
Any Bishop move also allows mate on A6 so there are no other “intersing” variations.
1.Ra8, I think? Pretty obvious, IMO. It was the first move I thought of once I saw that this was a mate in two problem.