{"id":1447,"date":"2023-12-30T20:32:09","date_gmt":"2023-12-30T19:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/?p=1447"},"modified":"2023-12-30T20:32:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-30T19:32:09","slug":"three-sharp-tidbits-without-a-feeling-of-thirst-but-with-a-keen-wit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skolasachu.com\/en\/tri-ostre-chutovky-bez-pocitu-zizne-zato-s-nabrousenym-ostrovtipem\/","title":{"rendered":"Three sharp treats without a feeling of thirst, but with a keen wit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201eWhat kind of end of the year and celebration of the new one would it be for us chess lovers without some kind of New Year's Eve or New Year's blitz tournament or another exercise for the brain's folds?\u201c I ask myself. What to prepare for the readers? Certainly something original, preferably unknown to them, which will require a greater dose of imagination and will force the neurons to mobilise a little differently than is necessary for the game itself, let alone the New Year's Eve celebration itself. The following three tasks will therefore require precisely this kind of concentration.<\/p>\n

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I have already dealt on my pages with so-called retrograde tasks (logical deduction tasks). The point is that to successfully solve the task, we have to somehow go back into the past. To find out not only what will be, but what was. To look back at the past (how apt, especially for today's world).<\/p>\n

So, dear readers, whoever has the time and desire to practise in this field and to have the same happy feeling of success as the famous Dr Tarrasch in the quote on my pages, can \u2013 perhaps instead of consuming treats \u2013 get down to solving.<\/p>\n

I have arranged three retrograde tasks according to difficulty, and in the second part of the article you can then check your opinion.<\/p>\n

Retro one \u2013 a \u201ewarm-up\u201c \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

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Black king is in checkmate. But what was White's last move? Can the position in the diagram even arise?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Retro two<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

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White mates immediately with his 1st move!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Retro \u2013 third treat<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

While the previous tasks did not require a particularly long statement \u2013 but careful reading \ud83d\ude42, in the last task, reminiscent of a truly sharp pepper canap\u00e9, we cannot avoid a somewhat longer legend. (I kindly ask significantly younger readers to look up for themselves what it was about and how the interruptions of games took place...)<\/p>\n

In a club tournament, one of the games was interrupted in the position of the diagram.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Black sealed 41...0\u20130\u20130 <\/strong><\/span>\u00a0and White therefore already in the resumption of the game replied 42.0\u20130<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Followed by 42...Rd2 43.Rc1<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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and the opponents agreed to a draw. \u201eSo what?\u201c the reader might say. But beware, we are going into final<\/em>!<\/p>\n

This was followed by a protest from a member of the arbiter commission, who although did not know the course of the game<\/em> before the interruption, labelled White's 42nd move, that is castling, as an illegal move!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Task:<\/strong> Was he right or wrong, and why?<\/p>\n

\n

Whether you, dear readers, have exercised your neurons <\/em>enough and successfully solved the tasks, you will find out below.<\/p>\n

Retro one \u2013 solution<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

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The author of the contribution acted cleverly by cutting off a large part of the chessboard in the picture. The solver must, of course, also orient themselves and find out on which squares the pieces actually stand. White's last move must have been gxh8R <\/strong>(which black piece the pawn captured on h8 is irrelevant).<\/p>\n

Retro two \u2013 solution<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

White mates immediately with his<\/em> 1st move!<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we read the task carefully, we find that it is actually not clear who is to move in the position! If White is to move, he cannot mate in one move, and if we consider the usual convention in move numbering, then if Black moves in (any) position (1\u2026), White's first move is already numbered 2.<\/p>\n

So the crux lies in the task formulation. This must be expressed succinctly in Czech, but without giving a hint to the solver! (From experience, I know that the task cannot be given to trainees in training, because after their logical question \u201ewho is to move\u201c it is impossible to answer or remain silent; any reaction or non-reaction<\/em> is a hint \ud83d\ude42.)<\/p>\n

The puzzle itself, however, lies in the fact that retrograde analysis must come into play! It reveals that it is Black to move! <\/strong>Or put differently: it cannot be White to move, because there is no legal move that Black could have made previously. <\/strong>The solution and beautiful checkmate patterns can be found by the reader in the video below.<\/p>\n