Artikelnummer
LXHOCOCP
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Outrageous Chess Problems
128 Seiten, kartoniert, Sterling, 1. Auflage 2005
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You will need to put aside assumptions and be on your guard at all times to solve these ingenious chess conundrums that are based on such variants as:
Billiards chess, where pieces can carom off the side of the board like pool balls.
Cylinder chess, which imagines that the board is rolled into a tube.
Circe chess, where captured pieces come back to life to fight again.
Double-move chess, in which each player makes two moves in a row.
There are many diagrams, detailed solutions, and even a crash course on chess for beginners. Additionally, see if you can tackle "The World's Hardest Chess Problem."
Forget conventional chess problems and strategy. In this collection, rules were made to be broken!
____________________
Things You Should Know
The reader of this book is assumed to be familiar with the essential mechanics of chess: how the pieces move; the rules for castling and en passant captures; the meaning of checkmate, stalemate and so on. If you are not - if, say, you've never played chess in your life but have been marooned on a desert island with nothing but the clothes on your back and, of all things, this single, solitary book - you should take the Crash Course on Chess that begins on page 113.
There are some terms and conventions, and some unconventional conventions, that apply to many of the problems in this book and that you may not be familiar with even if you've been playing chess all your life. Do yourself a favor: Read these definitions and explanations before attempting to solve the problems, and refer to them whenever you run into one that cannot possibly be solved, you think.
Billiards chess: In this variant, a piece can optionally carom off the side of the board at a right angle to its original direction of movement. A caroming piece can continue to carom until the player decides to stop it or until it either captures an enemy man along its path or runs into a friendly man.
Castling, casde: 1. A special move that may be played once per player in a game, castling is the only time that two pieces of the same color may move on the same turn. Under orthodox rules, the king castles by moving two squares toward a rook on the same rank while the rook moves to the adjacent square on the other side of the king. The king and rook may not have previously moved, the king may not be in check at the time (although it may have been previously checked), and the squares it passes over and lands on may not be under attack. In problems, castling is always allowed unless retrograde analysis proves that it is ille(by demonstrating that the king or rook has previously moved). See "Legality" and "Retrograde analysis." 2. The noun "castle" is erroneously used by novice's who don't know that the piece that looks like a castle turret is called a rook.
Checkless chess: A variant in which check is an illegal move unless it's checkmate. Beware of clever traps where a defense against mate is check but not mate and is therefore not a legal defense.
Checkmate in n moves: The basic stipulation for virtually all orthodox, direct-mate problems. White always moves first (in orthodox problems!). If the stipulation is "White mates in two," White must deliver checkmate on his second move no matter what Black's single defensive move is.
Circe chess: In this variant, named for the goddess who turned Ulysses' men into animals, captured men are immediately returned to the board. A pawn is returned to the second/seventh rank on the file on which it was captured; a piece is returned to its home space of the color square on which it was captured. If a replacement square is occupied, the man is simply captured and removed from play. A capture is illegal if replacing the piece would check the capturing player.
Cook: A fatal flaw that makes a problem unsolvable and unsound. For instance, if a problem requiring mate in four moves actually takes longer or can't be forced at all, or if it can be solved in fewer moves than stipulated, the problem is cooked.
Cylinder chess: A problem variant that imagines the board wrapped around a vertical cylinder so that the leftmost and right-most files (the a-file and the h-file) are contiguous, allowing pieces to move "around the cylinder." A piece may thus end its move where it began. In other forms, the cylinder is horizonal (the first and eighth ranks are contiguous), and sometimes it is, as it were, a double cylinder, both horizontal and vertical, a nightmarish problem variant called an "anchor ring."
Defense: In a problem, one side tries to achieve mate while the other side tries to avoid being mated by putting up the best defense. Generally, White attacks, Black defends. In competitive chess play, a defense is also a System of opening play used by Black, such as the Sicilian Defense.
Direct mate: This is the term problemists use for orthodox problems that require checkmate in a given number of moves against any defense, with White moving first. Helpmates, selfmates, and other varieties fall into a category called unorthodox, heterodox, or "fairy" problems. Many problemists feel that two-move and three-move direct-mate problem themes are played out. Since long-solution problems are usually too difficult for most solvers, constructors are turning to fairy compositions, which offer a wide range of new themes to explore and broad scope for the imagination.
Discovered check or mate: When a man that is standing between a friendly man and the enemy king moves away and thereby allows the friendly piece to attack the king without moving, this is a discovered check or mate. If the moving piece also gives check at the same time, this is called - what eise? - double check.
Double-move chess: A rare variant related to Marseillais chess. Each side makes two moves on the same turn with the same piece or two different pieces. The object is to capture the enemy king, but there is no check and a king may move into and out of "check" on the same turn.
Dual: An unintended second solution to a problem. A dual on the first move is a fatal flaw and the composition is unsound. On later moves it's called a "minor" dual - less serious but still a flaw. In some helpmate and selfmate problems, however, and more rarely in direct-mate problems, a double solution is intended by the composer and stated as part of the stipulation. See "Cook."
Dummy: 1. A pawn or piece that does not move, does not capor give check, and may not be captured. 2. A person who buys books "for Dummies" published by 1DG Press.
Endgame study: A composed position that is usually a realistic endgame Situation in which the solver is asked to demonstrate a win or a draw. Unlike problems, there is no requirement to give mate and no limit on the number of moves.
En passant: A special capture that each pawn may make once in its life. It must be made at the first opportunity or not at all. When a pawn advances two squares on its first turn, an enemy pawn on its fifth rank and on a file adjacent to the advancing pawn may capture it "in passing," as if it had advanced only one square. In problems, an en passant capture is allowed only if retrograde analysis proves that the opposing pawn must have advanced two squares on the last move. See "Legality" and "Retrograde analysis."
Grid chess: A chess variant that superimposes a grid over the chessboard dividing it into 16 two-by-two sections. Each move must be made to a different section, just as in orthodox chess each move must be made to a different square. Pieces within the same section have no effect on each other.
Helpmate: In orthodox, direct-mate problems, White moves first and must mate Black in a specified number of moves against the best defense. In a helpmate problem, Black moves first. Instead of offering the best defense (as he would if he were trying to avoid being mated), Black makes moves that help White achieve mate in the specified number of moves. In a helpmate in two, for instance, Black moves first, then White, then Black, and finally White gives mate on his second move.
Imitator: A little-explored problem theme. Somewhere on the board the constructor places an imitator, a neutral noncombatant that moves simultaneously and in parallel with every moving piece. A move is illegal if it forces the imitator off the board or into a man of either color.
Key: The first move of a problem solution.
Kriegspiel: In this popular variant, each player has his own board and can see only his own men. Between the players is an umpire with a third board showing the positions of both sides' men. It's a game of logic in which the players attempt to play moves ("tries"), often intentionally impossible ones, in order to deduce the location of opposing men. In the most widely accepted set of rules (there are several versions), if the referee announces that a move is illegal, the player may make further tries until one of them is legal, which he must then play. The umpire announces check by reporting only the direction it comes from. And he announces a capture by naming the square it takes place on, not the pieces involved. The players may speak only to ask the referwhether a pawn capture is possible ("Are there any?" or simply "Any?"). If so, the player must attempt a pawn capture. If it fails, he may try any other move.
Legality: All orthodox problem positions, and positions in most unorthodox forms, must be reachable by a legal, albeit bizarre, sequence of moves. They cannot contain more than 16 men per side, and each promoted piece must be accounted for by a missing pawn. Pawn positions that cannot be reached by normal moves are not allowed, The side not on the move must have had a previous legal move leading to the present position. However, in certain types of construction puzzles, in many unorthodox problems, and particularly in "joke" problems that deliberately flout the Laws of Chess (that is, in a large number of the probin this book), legality is "a custom more honored in the breach than the observance." When solving a problem where castling or an en passant capture seems possible, the rule is this: Castling is always legal unless it can be proved illegal by retro-grade analysis (i.e., by proving that the king or rook has previously moved); en passant is always illegal unless retrograde analysis proves that the other side has just advanced an appropriate pawn two squares.
Losing chess: The object of this popular variant is to force your Opponent to capture all your pieces, including the king. There is no check or checkmate. Captures are compulsory.
Men, pieces: Pieces are the king, queen, bishop, knight, and rook. Pawns are pawns. Although the word "pieces" is often used generically for any mixed group, purists prefer "pieces" for pieces, "pawns" for pawns, "men" for a mixed group, and "man" for an unspecified type of unit.
Miniature: A problem with no more than seven men for both sides combined.
Move: An action by a single player. Also, a pair of moves by both players, depending on context. "White mates in three moves" means three moves by White (Black gets to make only two moves). When referring to the score of a game, "moves" means moves by White. For instance, "Hochberg beat Kasparov in 17 moves" means Hochberg made 17 moves, Kasparov 16.
Neutral: A pawn or piece belonging to both sides. A neutral may check either king, and may capture or be captured by a man of either side, including another neutral. A neutral pawn promotes to a neutral piece. White moves a neutral pawn up the board like a White pawn; Black moves it down the board like a Black pawn.
Orthodox: Following all the laws and conventions of chess or chess composition.
Pin: A man that is Standing between an enemy piece and a friendly man and is thus blocking the friendly piece from attack is pinned. That is, it can't move without exposing the piece behind it to capture (not always a bad thing). If that piece is the king, however, the pin is "absolute," and the pinned man cannot legally move because it would expose the king to check.
Promotion, underpromotion: A pawn that reaches its eighth rank is required to be promoted. In most cases, a pawn is promoted to the most powerful piece in the army, the queen. But it is often better, for immediate tactical reasons, to "underpromote" to a lesser piece. You will also see in this book various illegal promotions to pieces of the other color, or to kings, neutrals, etc. Just as in real war, soldiers of the lowest rank sometimes switch sides.
Refusal chess: Each player on each turn may refuse the move made by his Opponent, who must then offer an alternative. This move may not be refused.
Retract, retractor: A retractor is a type of problem in which you are asked to take back (retract) one or more moves and then carry out a mate in a specified number of "forward" moves (i.e., moves made from the position after the retractions). A typical stipulation is "White and Black retract their last moves, then White mates in one."
Retrograde analysis: The process of proving what the "history" (i.e., the last one or more moves) of a given position must have been. The analysis, which is based on such things as the number of possible captures given the number and positions of the pawns, is used to prove, for instance, whether in the present position castling or en passant is legal. "Retros," as such problems are called, offer probably the greatest scope for the construction of the logical type of chess problem.
Selfmate: In a helpmate, Black moves first and tries to help White give mate. In a selfmate, White moves first and tries to force Black to give mate in the specified number of moves.
Series helpmate, series selfmate: Here, one side or the other makes a specified number of non-checking moves, while the other side does not move. At the end of the series, a designated side mates on the move.
Set play: Black moves first in a helpmate. Sometimes the composer provides "set play": a solution that works if it's White's move but doesn't work if it's Black's.
Twins: Two or more closely related problem positions. Sometimes a position is moved to another location on the board with the relpositions of the men unchanged but requiring a different solution. Usually a single man is moved to a new location.
Variant, Variation: A variant is a game or problem theme related to chess. Kriegspiel and losing chess, for instance, are variants. A Variation is one of several lines of play stemming from a given position, or is part of an opening System (such as the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense).
Billiards chess, where pieces can carom off the side of the board like pool balls.
Cylinder chess, which imagines that the board is rolled into a tube.
Circe chess, where captured pieces come back to life to fight again.
Double-move chess, in which each player makes two moves in a row.
There are many diagrams, detailed solutions, and even a crash course on chess for beginners. Additionally, see if you can tackle "The World's Hardest Chess Problem."
Forget conventional chess problems and strategy. In this collection, rules were made to be broken!
____________________
Things You Should Know
The reader of this book is assumed to be familiar with the essential mechanics of chess: how the pieces move; the rules for castling and en passant captures; the meaning of checkmate, stalemate and so on. If you are not - if, say, you've never played chess in your life but have been marooned on a desert island with nothing but the clothes on your back and, of all things, this single, solitary book - you should take the Crash Course on Chess that begins on page 113.
There are some terms and conventions, and some unconventional conventions, that apply to many of the problems in this book and that you may not be familiar with even if you've been playing chess all your life. Do yourself a favor: Read these definitions and explanations before attempting to solve the problems, and refer to them whenever you run into one that cannot possibly be solved, you think.
Billiards chess: In this variant, a piece can optionally carom off the side of the board at a right angle to its original direction of movement. A caroming piece can continue to carom until the player decides to stop it or until it either captures an enemy man along its path or runs into a friendly man.
Castling, casde: 1. A special move that may be played once per player in a game, castling is the only time that two pieces of the same color may move on the same turn. Under orthodox rules, the king castles by moving two squares toward a rook on the same rank while the rook moves to the adjacent square on the other side of the king. The king and rook may not have previously moved, the king may not be in check at the time (although it may have been previously checked), and the squares it passes over and lands on may not be under attack. In problems, castling is always allowed unless retrograde analysis proves that it is ille(by demonstrating that the king or rook has previously moved). See "Legality" and "Retrograde analysis." 2. The noun "castle" is erroneously used by novice's who don't know that the piece that looks like a castle turret is called a rook.
Checkless chess: A variant in which check is an illegal move unless it's checkmate. Beware of clever traps where a defense against mate is check but not mate and is therefore not a legal defense.
Checkmate in n moves: The basic stipulation for virtually all orthodox, direct-mate problems. White always moves first (in orthodox problems!). If the stipulation is "White mates in two," White must deliver checkmate on his second move no matter what Black's single defensive move is.
Circe chess: In this variant, named for the goddess who turned Ulysses' men into animals, captured men are immediately returned to the board. A pawn is returned to the second/seventh rank on the file on which it was captured; a piece is returned to its home space of the color square on which it was captured. If a replacement square is occupied, the man is simply captured and removed from play. A capture is illegal if replacing the piece would check the capturing player.
Cook: A fatal flaw that makes a problem unsolvable and unsound. For instance, if a problem requiring mate in four moves actually takes longer or can't be forced at all, or if it can be solved in fewer moves than stipulated, the problem is cooked.
Cylinder chess: A problem variant that imagines the board wrapped around a vertical cylinder so that the leftmost and right-most files (the a-file and the h-file) are contiguous, allowing pieces to move "around the cylinder." A piece may thus end its move where it began. In other forms, the cylinder is horizonal (the first and eighth ranks are contiguous), and sometimes it is, as it were, a double cylinder, both horizontal and vertical, a nightmarish problem variant called an "anchor ring."
Defense: In a problem, one side tries to achieve mate while the other side tries to avoid being mated by putting up the best defense. Generally, White attacks, Black defends. In competitive chess play, a defense is also a System of opening play used by Black, such as the Sicilian Defense.
Direct mate: This is the term problemists use for orthodox problems that require checkmate in a given number of moves against any defense, with White moving first. Helpmates, selfmates, and other varieties fall into a category called unorthodox, heterodox, or "fairy" problems. Many problemists feel that two-move and three-move direct-mate problem themes are played out. Since long-solution problems are usually too difficult for most solvers, constructors are turning to fairy compositions, which offer a wide range of new themes to explore and broad scope for the imagination.
Discovered check or mate: When a man that is standing between a friendly man and the enemy king moves away and thereby allows the friendly piece to attack the king without moving, this is a discovered check or mate. If the moving piece also gives check at the same time, this is called - what eise? - double check.
Double-move chess: A rare variant related to Marseillais chess. Each side makes two moves on the same turn with the same piece or two different pieces. The object is to capture the enemy king, but there is no check and a king may move into and out of "check" on the same turn.
Dual: An unintended second solution to a problem. A dual on the first move is a fatal flaw and the composition is unsound. On later moves it's called a "minor" dual - less serious but still a flaw. In some helpmate and selfmate problems, however, and more rarely in direct-mate problems, a double solution is intended by the composer and stated as part of the stipulation. See "Cook."
Dummy: 1. A pawn or piece that does not move, does not capor give check, and may not be captured. 2. A person who buys books "for Dummies" published by 1DG Press.
Endgame study: A composed position that is usually a realistic endgame Situation in which the solver is asked to demonstrate a win or a draw. Unlike problems, there is no requirement to give mate and no limit on the number of moves.
En passant: A special capture that each pawn may make once in its life. It must be made at the first opportunity or not at all. When a pawn advances two squares on its first turn, an enemy pawn on its fifth rank and on a file adjacent to the advancing pawn may capture it "in passing," as if it had advanced only one square. In problems, an en passant capture is allowed only if retrograde analysis proves that the opposing pawn must have advanced two squares on the last move. See "Legality" and "Retrograde analysis."
Grid chess: A chess variant that superimposes a grid over the chessboard dividing it into 16 two-by-two sections. Each move must be made to a different section, just as in orthodox chess each move must be made to a different square. Pieces within the same section have no effect on each other.
Helpmate: In orthodox, direct-mate problems, White moves first and must mate Black in a specified number of moves against the best defense. In a helpmate problem, Black moves first. Instead of offering the best defense (as he would if he were trying to avoid being mated), Black makes moves that help White achieve mate in the specified number of moves. In a helpmate in two, for instance, Black moves first, then White, then Black, and finally White gives mate on his second move.
Imitator: A little-explored problem theme. Somewhere on the board the constructor places an imitator, a neutral noncombatant that moves simultaneously and in parallel with every moving piece. A move is illegal if it forces the imitator off the board or into a man of either color.
Key: The first move of a problem solution.
Kriegspiel: In this popular variant, each player has his own board and can see only his own men. Between the players is an umpire with a third board showing the positions of both sides' men. It's a game of logic in which the players attempt to play moves ("tries"), often intentionally impossible ones, in order to deduce the location of opposing men. In the most widely accepted set of rules (there are several versions), if the referee announces that a move is illegal, the player may make further tries until one of them is legal, which he must then play. The umpire announces check by reporting only the direction it comes from. And he announces a capture by naming the square it takes place on, not the pieces involved. The players may speak only to ask the referwhether a pawn capture is possible ("Are there any?" or simply "Any?"). If so, the player must attempt a pawn capture. If it fails, he may try any other move.
Legality: All orthodox problem positions, and positions in most unorthodox forms, must be reachable by a legal, albeit bizarre, sequence of moves. They cannot contain more than 16 men per side, and each promoted piece must be accounted for by a missing pawn. Pawn positions that cannot be reached by normal moves are not allowed, The side not on the move must have had a previous legal move leading to the present position. However, in certain types of construction puzzles, in many unorthodox problems, and particularly in "joke" problems that deliberately flout the Laws of Chess (that is, in a large number of the probin this book), legality is "a custom more honored in the breach than the observance." When solving a problem where castling or an en passant capture seems possible, the rule is this: Castling is always legal unless it can be proved illegal by retro-grade analysis (i.e., by proving that the king or rook has previously moved); en passant is always illegal unless retrograde analysis proves that the other side has just advanced an appropriate pawn two squares.
Losing chess: The object of this popular variant is to force your Opponent to capture all your pieces, including the king. There is no check or checkmate. Captures are compulsory.
Men, pieces: Pieces are the king, queen, bishop, knight, and rook. Pawns are pawns. Although the word "pieces" is often used generically for any mixed group, purists prefer "pieces" for pieces, "pawns" for pawns, "men" for a mixed group, and "man" for an unspecified type of unit.
Miniature: A problem with no more than seven men for both sides combined.
Move: An action by a single player. Also, a pair of moves by both players, depending on context. "White mates in three moves" means three moves by White (Black gets to make only two moves). When referring to the score of a game, "moves" means moves by White. For instance, "Hochberg beat Kasparov in 17 moves" means Hochberg made 17 moves, Kasparov 16.
Neutral: A pawn or piece belonging to both sides. A neutral may check either king, and may capture or be captured by a man of either side, including another neutral. A neutral pawn promotes to a neutral piece. White moves a neutral pawn up the board like a White pawn; Black moves it down the board like a Black pawn.
Orthodox: Following all the laws and conventions of chess or chess composition.
Pin: A man that is Standing between an enemy piece and a friendly man and is thus blocking the friendly piece from attack is pinned. That is, it can't move without exposing the piece behind it to capture (not always a bad thing). If that piece is the king, however, the pin is "absolute," and the pinned man cannot legally move because it would expose the king to check.
Promotion, underpromotion: A pawn that reaches its eighth rank is required to be promoted. In most cases, a pawn is promoted to the most powerful piece in the army, the queen. But it is often better, for immediate tactical reasons, to "underpromote" to a lesser piece. You will also see in this book various illegal promotions to pieces of the other color, or to kings, neutrals, etc. Just as in real war, soldiers of the lowest rank sometimes switch sides.
Refusal chess: Each player on each turn may refuse the move made by his Opponent, who must then offer an alternative. This move may not be refused.
Retract, retractor: A retractor is a type of problem in which you are asked to take back (retract) one or more moves and then carry out a mate in a specified number of "forward" moves (i.e., moves made from the position after the retractions). A typical stipulation is "White and Black retract their last moves, then White mates in one."
Retrograde analysis: The process of proving what the "history" (i.e., the last one or more moves) of a given position must have been. The analysis, which is based on such things as the number of possible captures given the number and positions of the pawns, is used to prove, for instance, whether in the present position castling or en passant is legal. "Retros," as such problems are called, offer probably the greatest scope for the construction of the logical type of chess problem.
Selfmate: In a helpmate, Black moves first and tries to help White give mate. In a selfmate, White moves first and tries to force Black to give mate in the specified number of moves.
Series helpmate, series selfmate: Here, one side or the other makes a specified number of non-checking moves, while the other side does not move. At the end of the series, a designated side mates on the move.
Set play: Black moves first in a helpmate. Sometimes the composer provides "set play": a solution that works if it's White's move but doesn't work if it's Black's.
Twins: Two or more closely related problem positions. Sometimes a position is moved to another location on the board with the relpositions of the men unchanged but requiring a different solution. Usually a single man is moved to a new location.
Variant, Variation: A variant is a game or problem theme related to chess. Kriegspiel and losing chess, for instance, are variants. A Variation is one of several lines of play stemming from a given position, or is part of an opening System (such as the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense).
| EAN | 1402719094 |
|---|---|
| Gewicht | 160 g |
| Hersteller | Sterling |
| Breite | 13,6 cm |
| Höhe | 21 cm |
| Medium | Buch |
| Erscheinungsjahr | 2005 |
| Autor | Burt Hochberg |
| Sprache | Englisch |
| Auflage | 1 |
| ISBN-10 | 1402719094 |
| Seiten | 128 |
| Einband | kartoniert |
005 What's Going On Here
007 Things You Should Know
014 Algebraic Notation
016 Orthodox, More or Less
022 Constructive Constructions
029 Let's Work It Out Together
036 Take That Back!
040 Remembrance of Things Fast
052 Various Variants
074 Trick or Treat
082 Promotional Considerations
090 The World's Hardest Chess Problem
091 Solutions
113 A Crash Course on Chess
127 Index of Constructors
007 Things You Should Know
014 Algebraic Notation
016 Orthodox, More or Less
022 Constructive Constructions
029 Let's Work It Out Together
036 Take That Back!
040 Remembrance of Things Fast
052 Various Variants
074 Trick or Treat
082 Promotional Considerations
090 The World's Hardest Chess Problem
091 Solutions
113 A Crash Course on Chess
127 Index of Constructors