SPGI Puzzle Solving Championship

7 comments

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  Lucymarie says:

  July 25, 2012 at 5:36 am

  Too long. Solved all eight, but the brain cells don’t work so quickly anymore.

• Reply

  

  MrB says:

  July 25, 2012 at 8:21 am

  The first four are fairly easy:

  #13:

  1. Qc5+ Kd7
  2. Qd6+ Ke8
  3. Qe7#

  #14:

  1. Qxf8+ Kxf8
  2. Nf6+ Kg8
  3. Rf8#

  #15:

  1. Rh8+ Kxh8
  2. Qxh6+ Kg8
  3. Qxg7#

  #16:

  1. d6+ Ke6
  2. Re8+ Kd5
  3. Bb7+ Kc4
  4. Rb4#

  Now let me look at the remaining four. 🙂

• Reply

  

  pht says:

  July 25, 2012 at 9:42 am

  13)
  1. Qc5+ Kd7
  2. Qd6+ Ke8
  3. Qe7#

  14)
  1. Qf8+ Kxf8
  2. Ng6++ Kg8
  3. Rf8#

  Took only the time to write the solution. But the rest is harder:

  15)
  1. Rh8+ Kxh8
  2. Qxh6+! Kg8 (g7 was pinned)
  3. Qxg7#
  Took me a minute to find the right move order here (tried all other sequences first).

  16)
  1. d6+ Ke6
  2. Re8+ Kd5
  3. Rd1+ Kc6
  4. Rc8#
  Easy, since there were so few squares black king could walk on.
  But took a minute though.

  17)
  1. Qc6+ Ka5
  2. b4+ (magnetism) Kxb4
  3. Qc5+ Ka4
  4. Bd1#
  Again, a minute.

  18)
  1. Kg4+ Kg6
  2. Kf4+ Kf6
  3. e5+ Ke6
  4. Nc5#
  Here I first tried 3. Bc3+? that didn’t work…

  19)
  Here is something tricky about the d7/d6 escape fields.
  1. Re8+ Bxe8
  2. Rxe8+ Kd7
  3. Nf6+! Kxd6
  4. Re6#
  Not really difficult, but still took me 2 minutes.

  20)
  The last one seems surprisingly easy:
  1. Nf6+ gxf6
  2. Qg3+ Kf8
  3. Bh6#
  Well, black can prolong this with the interposing sack:
  2. … Qg5
  3. Qxg5+(?) Kf8
  Oops, where is my mate in 4 now? My own queen suddenly stands in the way for my bishop!
  Improvement:
  1. Nf6+ gxf6
  2. Qg3+ Qg5
  3. Re8+! Kg7
  4. Qxg5#
  There had to be some fun in one of those puzzles:-)

• Reply

  

  MrB says:

  July 25, 2012 at 11:29 am

  Solutions for second set of four problems.

  #17:

  1. Qc6+ Ka5
  2. b4+ Kxb4
  3. Qc5+ Ka4
  4. Bd1#

  #18:

  1. Kg4+!! Kg6
  2. Kf4+ Kf6
  3. e5+ Ke6
  4. Nc5#

  #19:

  1. Re8+ Bxe8
  2. Rxe8+ Kd7
  3. Nf6+ Kxd6
  4. Bf4#

  #20:

  1. Nf6+ gxf6
  2. Qf8+ Kxf8
  3. Bh6+ Kg8
  4. Re8#

• Reply

  

  Anonymous says:

  July 25, 2012 at 12:56 pm

  These are too hard.

• Reply

  

  MrB says:

  July 26, 2012 at 3:33 am

  @pht:

  Your and my solutions differ in 3 cases (apart from a typo I made in #14):

  1. #16

  Your solution is wrong, since you missed the interposing move, 3… Rd3 after which there is no mate in 4.

  2. #19

  Both our solutions appear to work (the difference is only in the mating move)

  3. #20

  Your fourth move is not really a mating move, since you missed the pawn on f6. So, black escapes your purported mate with 4… fxg5. My solution is correct, though.

• Reply

  

  pht says:

  July 26, 2012 at 7:17 am

  Comparing MrB’s solutions to my own, I can see my mistake on #16:
  My solution is mate in 5, I overlooked blacks sack 3. … Rd3

  I can also see my mistake on #20:
  My solution is mate in 5, I overlooked blacks extra sack 2. … Bg4

  About #19, are here three mates?
  4. Re6#, 4. Bf4# or 4. Bf8#