the chess engines looks at white as losing when actually, white has a winning move. They all give white the losing move 1. d8=Q, allowing black to fork. The winning move is 1. Nf6+ Kg7 (The king can’t go to the 8th rank or g6 because it’s an immediate loss.) 2. Nh5+ Kg6 3.Bc2+ Kxh5 4. d8=Q (if 4…Nf7+ then 5. Ke6 Nxd8+ Kf5! and the black king is forever stuck with a mating threat.) Thus the best move for black would be to ignore the fork and play 4…Kg4 but white still has a winning position…
John,
It is very interesting but there are some doubts. 1.Nf6+ Kg7 2.Nh5+ Kg6 3.Bc2+ Kxh5 4.d8=Q Nf7+ 5.Ke6 Nxd8+ 6.Kf5 e2 7.Be4 e1=N (7… e1=Q 8.Bf3#)8.Bd5 c2 9.Bc4 c1=N(preventing 10.be2#) Now probably white has no good continuation.
The continuation goes like this: 1. Nf6+ Kg7 2. Nh5+ Kg6 3. Bc2+ Kxh5 4. d8=Q Nf7+ 5. Ke6 Nxd8+ 6. Kf5 e2 7. Be4 e1=N (forced) 8. Bd5 c2 9. Bc4 c1=N (another forced knight) 10. Bb5 Nc6 (black has no other options but to try for a check on the king to dislodge it from f5.) 11. Bxc6 Nc7 (forced to block Be8#) 12. Ba4 and black is unable to stop mate.
The puzzle was once famously called the hardest puzzle to solve. It took me a good long while to find the solution myself. I mainly use the chess engines for other variations and to see if the puzzle isn’t based on human error, i.e. mate in 15 in this case. Yes it can be mate in 15 base on human error because 4…Nf7 only shortens black’s agony of defeat; whereas, 4…Kg4 prolongs it I’ve been tweaking on my chess engine in order for it to see the winning move from the very start but to no avail. I’ve gone as far as downloading the Syzygy databases for end games and still no results. I’m using Winboard 4.8 for a GUI and it is a possibility that I may not have the settings correct for any engine to access the database.
PROF.S.G.BHAT
What is the statement of the puzzle? Is it white to play and win or mate in 15.
1. Ng5 Kh8 2. Qh7 Bxh7 3. Nf7 mate
Easy, just my level.
1.Kng5+,Kh8
2.Dh7+, Bxh7
3.Knf7 mate
In the following position
8/3P3k/n2K3p/2p3n1/1b4N1/2p1p1P1/8/3B4 w – – 0 1
the chess engines looks at white as losing when actually, white has a winning move. They all give white the losing move 1. d8=Q, allowing black to fork. The winning move is 1. Nf6+ Kg7 (The king can’t go to the 8th rank or g6 because it’s an immediate loss.) 2. Nh5+ Kg6 3.Bc2+ Kxh5 4. d8=Q (if 4…Nf7+ then 5. Ke6 Nxd8+ Kf5! and the black king is forever stuck with a mating threat.) Thus the best move for black would be to ignore the fork and play 4…Kg4 but white still has a winning position…
John,
It is very interesting but there are some doubts.
1.Nf6+ Kg7 2.Nh5+ Kg6 3.Bc2+ Kxh5 4.d8=Q Nf7+ 5.Ke6 Nxd8+ 6.Kf5 e2 7.Be4 e1=N (7… e1=Q 8.Bf3#)8.Bd5 c2 9.Bc4 c1=N(preventing 10.be2#) Now probably white has no good continuation.
The continuation goes like this: 1. Nf6+ Kg7 2. Nh5+ Kg6 3. Bc2+ Kxh5 4. d8=Q Nf7+ 5. Ke6 Nxd8+ 6. Kf5 e2 7. Be4 e1=N (forced) 8. Bd5 c2 9. Bc4 c1=N (another forced knight) 10. Bb5 Nc6 (black has no other options but to try for a check on the king to dislodge it from f5.) 11. Bxc6 Nc7 (forced to block Be8#) 12. Ba4 and black is unable to stop mate.
Bravo,Bishop!! Even after 4 nights there is no daylight for black.
The puzzle was once famously called the hardest puzzle to solve. It took me a good long while to find the solution myself. I mainly use the chess engines for other variations and to see if the puzzle isn’t based on human error, i.e. mate in 15 in this case. Yes it can be mate in 15 base on human error because 4…Nf7 only shortens black’s agony of defeat; whereas, 4…Kg4 prolongs it I’ve been tweaking on my chess engine in order for it to see the winning move from the very start but to no avail. I’ve gone as far as downloading the Syzygy databases for end games and still no results. I’m using Winboard 4.8 for a GUI and it is a possibility that I may not have the settings correct for any engine to access the database.
What is the statement of the puzzle? Is it white to play and win or mate in 15.
I have seen both statements on this puzzle, “White to move and win” and “Mate in 15.” Of course, we both know the rest of the story…