White to move and checkmate in 9. Can you find it?
k3nb2/7b/6Rr/3rq3/2K1B2N/6R1/3p1pPB/1Q1N2n1 w – – 0 1
You can find the answer here courtesy of James O’Fee.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
The DaVinci Checkmate
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Broken link?
Looks like mate in eight, so I must have goofed somewhere:
1.Ra3+ Bxa3
2.Bxe5 Nd6+
3.Bxd6 f1=Q+
4.Kxd5 Qd3+
5.Qxd3 Ka7
6.Kc6
… and no matter what Black does, White mates in two more moves.
Susan has posted the position a half-move on from that published in the TIMES,with Black having made his first move. So that would make it a Mate in 8, according to Raymond Keene.
But a commentator on the Impala Publications site claims that Black can hold out for one move longer, which would make it a Mate in 9.
http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/index.php?/archives/2518-The-Da-Vinci-decode-mystery,-by-James-OFee.html
Oops!
I should have written
‘Mate in 7 according to Rayond Keene’
and
‘Mate in 8…according to a commentator’
James,
No prizes for guessing who the “commentator” was 🙂
The Poster Formerly Known as Anon 9:59
Maybe I am slow but,
Why not Ra6#??
Why not Ra6#??
Look closer at the square h6.
HAH, I am slow.
Well I woke up 10 minutes ago, thats my story and I’m sticking to it!
Deep Shredder 11 found a mate in 8
1.Ra3+ Bxa3
2.Bxe5 Nd6+
3.Bxd6 f1Q+
4.Kxd5 Bb4
5.Qxb4 Qb5+
6.Qxb5 Bg8+
7.Kc5+ Bd5
8.Qa6#
Hi Susan, Rick Knowlton here(AncientChess com), you remember, from the Chess Collector’s group? This is a little crazy, but I think you’ll find that Keene’s interpretation of the position from the manuscript is strangely mistaken. The diagrams in the 500-year-old manuscript use symbols for the pieces which are long since out of use. But a review of several positions in his book show clearly that the piece Keene takes for a king is actually a queen, and his queen was a king in the original manuscript. For real. Much evidence readily available all over the internet.