3Nk3/r7/7R/8/3K4/8/8/8 w - - 0 1

Dress Pr0n For The 'Ettes:

Muted pastel details and soft outlines create an evening dress that suits late summer days drained of bright colours as the sun sets earlier, a one piece gown dating to c1909-11 @HillwoodMuseum #1900s #fashionhistory pic.twitter.com/hDEbxv9mDX

— Dr Kate Strasdin (@kateStrasdin) September 1, 2018

Look at these little munchkins:

Greetings From Wales

___________

Solutions Update

Easier Problem - White To Play

8/6p1/6kp/5R2/5K2/3R4/8/1B6 w - - 0 1

With such an overwhelming material superiority, there are many ways for White to force checkmate. But the quickest is a mate in two, and I've found 3 distinct solutions. Perhaps you can find more.

All of the solutions I've found start with:

1. Rf8!

This move cuts off any escape to the back rank as well as maintaining control of the 'f' file.

Now Black has 3 possible moves, all of which end up in a quick mate:

Solution #1: 1...Kh7 2.Rd7#
Solution #2: 1...Kh5 2.Rh3#
Solution #3: 1...h5 2.Rd6#

More Challenging Problem - White To Play

3Nk3/r7/7R/8/3K4/8/8/8 w - - 0 1

1.Rh8+ Kd7

Not 1...Ke7 2.Nc6+ and Black can immediately resign.

2.Rh7+ Kd6

This is the stalemate trap. Which is the result if White takes the rook. There is no legal move for Black after 3.Rxa7.

3.Nf7+

Black has 3 options here:

If 3...Ke6 then the skewer will work: 4.Ng5+ Kd6 5.Rxa7 and wins

If 3...Kc6 then 4.Ne5+ which morphs into the the main line (see below).

That leaves only

3...Kc7

4.Ne5+ Kb6

Black still must protect his rook from the skewer.

5.Nc4+ Ka6 (if 5...Kc6 then 6.Rxa7 is OK, because it's not stalemate as Kb5 is a legal move)

6.Rh6+ Kb7
7.Nd6+ Kb8

If 7...Ka6 then 8.Nc8+ wins the rook.

8.Rh8+ Kc7
9.Nb5+ and wins

Hope to see you all next week!

___________

Note: that cryptic line of letters and numbers you see underneath each board diagram is a representation of the position in what is known as "Forsyth-Edwards Notation", or F.E.N. It's actually readable by humans. Most computer applications nowadays can read FEN, so those of you who may want to study the position, you can copy the line of FEN and paste into your chess app and it should automatically recreate the position on its display board. Or, Windows users can just "triple click" on it and the entire line will be highlighted so you can copy and paste it into your chess app.

___________

So that about wraps it up for this week. Chess thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to my yahoo address: OregonMuse little-a-in-a-circle yahoo dott com.

posted by OregonMuse at 05:12 PM

| Access Comments