Die Schwalbe

4 problem(s) found in 3657 milliseconds (displaying 4 problem(s)). [COMMENTDATE>=20200919 AND NOT K='Hilfsrückzüger' AND NOT K='Opfer weißer Figuren' AND S='American Chess Monthly'] [download as LaTeX]

1 - P0001141
George Hume
Jamaica Gleaner 12/1891
Weihnachtsturnier 1891
1. Preis
P0001141
(9+9)
Auf welche Gedanken kommen Sie bei dieser Stellung?

Der Ld6 ist keine UWF und der sBg7 wurde auf seinem Ausgangsfeld geschlagen. Nach dem Autor muss der letzte Zug also Lf8-d6 gewesen sein, also illegale Stellung.
Datum der Originalpublikation nicht 100% sicher, laut ACM aus der "Jamaica Gleaner Christmas column".

Originalforderung: How has the position been arrived at and who is the winner, and in how many moves?

From the Jamaica Gleaner: "White mates in two moves. The last move made was by Black playing his Bishop and announcing mate. As it can be demonstrated that the Bishop is not a promoted Pawn and that Black's King's Knight's Pawn was captured on its original square by White's Queen's Knight's Pawn the Black Bishop must have been played from Bishop's square (f8) to Q3 (d6). This being an illegal move, White enforces the penalty of compelling Black to retract it and move his King whereupon White plays 1 PXB(Q) ch (1.gxf8=Q+) and mates next move by 2 Q-B4 (Qf4#). The following is a brief but pointed analysis, demonstrating the false move: White's Pawns have made six captures all on black squares. The Q Kt P (Pb2) made five of these and consequently captured the Kt P on the square upon which it now stands (g7). They could not have captured the Q B which is also lost. The White Bishop is the QRP (Pa2) promoted, the original KB having been captured on its own square as the unmoved Pawns show. To allow this promotion Black's QRP (Pa7) made two captures, the QKtP (Pb7) one, and the QBP (Pc7) two. The KRP (Ph7) has also made a capture, which accounts for the seven pieces White has lost. The Black Bishop is not a promoted Pawn, as if the Black KBP (Pf7) had played to the 7 th square (f2) and then captured a White piece on K or Kt square (e1 or g1) the captures by White Pawns cannot be accounted for without including the Black QB or KRP neither of which is available. As it can be demonstrated, then that the Black Bishop is not a promoted one, and that the KKtP was captured by the White Pawn which now stands on that square, in order to reach Q3 the Black Bishop must have an impossible move.

Der Kolumnist des ACM merkt aber zurecht an:
ACM: The above is a very fine piece of analytical work; but there is a slight flaw in connection with the minor condition, 'mate in two'. In a position of this kind we believe only that which can be proved; thus we do not think that White has any right to enact a penalty, as neither the analysis nor the conditions show that the Black Bishop came from Bishop's square on his last move; indeed, that Bishop may have played outside the Pawns on the very first move of the game which, being played, brought about the position.
HBae: White plays 1 PXB(Q) ch (1.gxf8=Q+). Muß der sK nicht auf f5 stehen? (2019-10-22)
Henrik Juel: Last move (supposedly) was Lf8-d6#, which is obviously impossible and hence illegal
The penalty for this is that Black must replace Ld6 on f8 AND instead make an arbitrary move with his king
So the forward play is
0... Kf5,Kf6,Kh6 1.gxf8=D+ Kg5,Ke5 2.Df4# (2019-10-22)
A.Buchanan: One long-standing approach to resolving illegal diagram jokes is to suppose that only the last move was illegal, with all prior play legal. The illegal move is then retracted, and play continues. Of course, the “illegal move” might in principle be from *any* legal position (even the game array!). So for sanity, we say the illegal move is a simple but somehow illegal shift of a single piece.

So here, candidates for the last move include Pe5-a4+, Sf4-e1+, Ke5-g5+ & B?-d6+. For all of these, White has 6 visible pawn captures, all on dark squares, so Black light-squared bishop is excluded. wPa must have promoted to light-squared bishop, so if the three Black pawns on a-file remain, there is only one unaccounted capture. Thus bPh could not promote, and must be bPg6 now. Thus bPg7 was captured at home, and bBf8 was thus locked in.

So Bf8-d6 is certainly a possible illegal move, but so are e.g. Be8-d6 (as the light-squared bishop is otherwise unexplained) and Pe5-a~. This is an example of an "implausible" joke according to Dawson & Hundsdorfer, because there is more than one retraction to the current position, and one just has to arbitrarily pick the one that makes the forward logic work. (2023-04-02)
A.Buchanan: Another issue is that according to the 1883 laws, White cannot force Black to move their king. The 1883 rules stated:
- If a player touches a piece or Pawn of his own he must move it.
- If he touches one of his adversary's he must take can be taken.
- If he touches plurality of pieces or Pawns of the same colour, in either of these instances his adversary may elect which such piece or Pawn he will call upon him to play or to take, as the case may be.
- If the rules governing the moves of pieces do not admit of the adversary exacting penalty as above, the player must move his King, but may not Castle. If the King cannot be moved without exposure to check, no penalty can then be exacted
So according to this, Black must play Bf8xPg7 as the penalty move.
Was there another revision to the rules between 1883 & 1891? (2023-04-02)
more ...
comment
Keywords: Illegal position, Joke, Retract illegal move (stuck at home), Touch Move, Volet Pawn, Obvious promotion (L)
Genre: Retro
FEN: 6B1/4p1P1/p2b2p1/p5kq/p7/4P1K1/2PPP1PP/3n4
Reprints: American Chess Monthly 1, p. 11, 03/1892
Jamaica Gleaner 30/04/1892
17 Europe Echecs 14 10/1959
Input: Gerd Wilts, 1995-06-03
Last update: A.Buchanan, 2023-04-02 more...
2 - P1022375
Joseph C. J. Wainwright
Wanderer (Milwaukee) 1886
1. Preis
P1022375
(8+8) C+
#2
1. Lc5? droht 2. e3# 1. ... Txb8!
1. Lf8? droht 2. e3# 1. ... Txf8!

1. Lb4! droht 2. e3#
1. ... exf3 2. e4#
1. Lb4! Txf3 2. exf3#
1. Lb4! Txh2 2. Da3#
1. Lb4! c3 2. Df7#
1. Lb4! d3 2. exd3#
1. Lb4! e3 2. Da8#
play all play one stop play next play all
[AZW]: Der wS spielt nicht mit, er hat nur den Zweck, den sT zu verstellen.
1.Preis The Wanderer (Milwaukee) 1886; Einsendungsmotto: "Tit for Tat"

[BCM, 1886, S.70]: "The monthly column is an important feature in a new Illustrated Magazine entitled "The Wanderer," published at Milwaukee, price $1 a year, and devoted to the interests of the travelling public. The Chess contents are so thoroughly good in every way that we recommend our readers to write for a copy ..."

[ACM]: "A marked specialty of his work, which will serve as a faithful index of his style, is his constant predilection to elaborate the powers and functions of the pawn. This peculiarity, conjoined with an active use of the white king, can be traced through many of his finest problems. We will venture to illustrate with a few examples, commencing with the first prize winner of the Wanderer tourney, Milwaukee, 1887."
more ...
comment
Keywords: Brian Stephenson Collection (7231), discovered checkmate, Line closing, Line opening, Queen sacrifice
Genre: 2#
Computer test: SCHRECKE: popeye 4.85
FEN: 1N5r/7b/8/8/2ppp2p/B4Q1r/k3PR1P/1RK5
Reprints: 6551 Deutsche Schachzeitung 03/1888
American Chess Monthly , p. 165, 09/1892
Skakbladet 8 26/02/1905
147 Arbeiter-Zeitung (Wien) 11/07/1927
111 Selected Problems by Famous Composers 1945
481 Beispiele zur Ideengeschichte des Schachproblems , p. 108, 1982
Input: Brian Stephenson, 2004-08-12
Last update: Dieter Berlin, 2023-04-23 more...
3 - P1203379
Joseph C. J. Wainwright
Detroit Free Press 1884
P1203379
(9+5) C+
s#6
1. Se8 Lg7 2. Sg4+ Le5 3. Sd6 exd6 4. Se3 d5 5. Sc4+ dxc4 6. b4+ cxb3ep#
play all play one stop play next play all
more ...
comment
Keywords: En passant
Genre: s#
Computer test: SCHRECKE: C+, Gustav 4.1d, Brute Force (2020-10-27)
FEN: 5b2/2N1p3/2Q1P2p/k3N2R/8/P7/KP1n4/4B3
Reprints: American Chess Monthly , p. 166, 09/1892
Pittsburgh Gazette Times 26/03/1911
Input: Frank Müller, 2011-09-25
Last update: Erich Bartel, 2020-10-27 more...
4 - P1218288
Samuel Loyd
V American Chess Monthly 11/1857
1. Preis
P1218288
(9+10) C+
#4
1. Txf4+! Ke3 2. Ld5 Dxd5 3. Sf5+ Dxf5 4. Sc4#
2. ... Tbxd5 3. Sd1+ Txd1 4. Sf5# 2. ... Tdxd5 3. Sf5+ Txf5 4. Sd1#
play all play one stop play next play all
more ...
comment
Keywords: Checking key, Deflection, Intersection Theme
Genre: n#
Computer test: Juel: Popeye 4.61
FEN: n7/3rp1NK/b4pP1/1r6/4kb2/p4R2/qNP2R1P/7B
Reprints: The Illustrated London News 1857
93 Classic Chess Problems by Pioneer Composers , p. 57, 1970
Input: Felber, Volker, 2011-11-08
Last update: Dieter Berlin, 2022-12-22 more...
Show statistic for complete result. Show search result faster by using ids.

https://pdb.dieschwalbe.de/search.jsp?expression=COMMENTDATE%3E%3D20200919+AND+NOT+K%3D%27Hilfsr%C3%BCckz%C3%BCger%27+AND+NOT+K%3D%27Opfer+wei%C3%9Fer+Figuren%27+AND+S%3D%27American+Chess+Monthly%27

The problems of this query have been registered by the following contributors:

Gerd Wilts (1)
Brian Stephenson (1)
Frank Müller (1)
Felber, Volker (1)