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.
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| 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 #
REPLAY THE MOVES
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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