2013/08/07

STAIRWAY TO CHECKMATE

Well-crafted chess puzzles have this uncanny knack of driving your mind crazy. Every chess lover is familiar with that helpless feeling when the elusive solution seems just around the corner only to evade us again and again.

Sometimes when you can’t solve a chess problem you get so exasperated that you just feel like climbing up a staircase and jump from the top. Following creative chess problem composed by B S Barrett in 1874 can be solved by doing exactly that. To be more accurate, the maneuvering of the white queen strongly resembles climbing a staircase and jumping off the top.

WHITE TO PLAY & MATE IN 12 MOVES

12 moves may sound like a lot. But first thing first. White must prevent the two black pawns from promoting. Hence the solution starts with...

1.   Qc3           Kb1

Then white queen starts to climb the staircase (c3-d3-d4-e4-e5-f5-f6-g6-g7-h7-h8) while black king watches patiently from his self inflicted prison (a1-b1).

2.   Qd3+        Ka1
3.   Qd4          Kb1
4.   Qe4+        Ka1


The climb continues….

5.    Qe5            Kb1
6.    Qf5+           Ka1
7.    Qf6             Kb1


Even higher…. the black king won't run away…

8.    Qg6+           Ka1
9.    Qg7             Kb1
10.  Qh7+           Ka1
11.  Qh8             Kb1


After reaching the highest point, time is nigh to jump off the top and deliver the fatal blow……

12.Qh1 #


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2 comments:

  1. These ones drive me nuts - thank you! This is a great resource to share with friends and family as well as artisan makers. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

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