Welcome registrants:
studens
Fazio
Fr.A.
Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE
White to play and mate in 2. Tough.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Interested in learning? Try THIS.
Coat of Arms by D Burkart
on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 24-05-12 – Bp. Fatty v. Confirmations: “No mention about the confirmation names being taken. I was amazed at how many boys took the name “Sebastian” since…”
on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 24-05-12 – Bp. Fatty v. Confirmations: “Our dear Bishop found his poor eternal spirit, with all its confusion, uncertainties, and misleading signals from every direction in…”
on 13 May – Our Lady of Fatima: Three points, one that worries, one that consoles, one that puzzles: “Father, I always interpreted your boldened part of the secret as how a little child in 1917 in a very…”
on Daily Rome Shot 1021: “A friend of mine went to Georgia Tech like Harrison Butker. My friend was there about 15 years before Butker…” on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 24-05-12 – Bp. Fatty v. Confirmations: “I had to laugh about the shoving the book during Mass. I was an altar boy (1980s) and oftentimes the…”
on 13 May – Our Lady of Fatima: Three points, one that worries, one that consoles, one that puzzles: “The Third Secret that was released is a phony as the “second” Sr. Lucia they presented to us.”
on Daily Rome Shot 1021: “Aw, I listened to his speech for a second time today. I couldn’t find anything that I didn’t agree with.…”
on 13 May – Our Lady of Fatima: Three points, one that worries, one that consoles, one that puzzles: “Serious question: If someone visited or wrote a formal request to the Vatican archives and asked for a copy (or…”
on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 24-05-12 – Bp. Fatty v. Confirmations: “I thought for sure he’d have some remark about not having to slap the youngsters on the cheek. Probably felt…” on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 24-05-12 – Bp. Fatty v. Confirmations: “Careful Father Tommy, Pope Francis says you are into Liturgical Quibbling.”
on Daily Rome Shot 1021: “1. Qb6 Rc6 2. Qxd8# OR 1. Qb6 Be7 2. Rg6# OR 1. Qb6 any other legal move 2. Qxd6#”
on 13 May 609 – Exorcism, screaming demons, people fainting from fear – Dedication of Santa Maria ad martyres (the Pantheon): “I loved how the young man took the idol out and tossed it in the Tiber River. They should also…”
on 13 May – Our Lady of Fatima: Three points, one that worries, one that consoles, one that puzzles: “Fr Malachi Martin claimed to have read the 3rd Secret. That would have included the explanation. Sorta parallels the US…”
on From “The Private Diary of Bishop F. Atticus McButterpants” – 24-05-12 – Bp. Fatty v. Confirmations: ““toast slathered with” . . . a word containing m, r, j, and n led my tired eyes to a…”
Loading ...
A Daily Prayer for Priests
Nota bene: I do not answer these numbers or this Skype address. You won't get me "live". I check for messages regularly.
WDTPRS
020 8133 4535
651-447-6265
PLEASE subscribe via PayPal if it is useful. Zelle and Wise are better, but PayPal is convenient.
A monthly subscription donation means I have steady income I can plan on. I put you my list of benefactors for whom I pray and for whom I often say Holy Mass.
In view of the rapidly changing challenges I now face, I would like to add more $10/month subscribers. Will you please help?
For a one time donation...
Loading ...If you travel internationally, this is a super useful gizmo for your mobile internet data. I use one. If you get one through my link, I get data rewards.
Loading ...
They find you a pro-life agent in your area who commits to giving a portion of the fee to a pro-life group!
Help Monks in Wyoming (coffee – UPDATED LINK) and Norcia (beer) and the wonderful "Soap Sisters" of Summit, NJ!
Please follow me on Twitter!
Use my code for a discount
Visits tracked by Statcounter
since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
1. Qb4+ (Q or B)d4
The black king has no escape squares and Black can only interpose. The black queen, in theory, would be able to recapture if White does not manage to find the second move, while the bishop would not, so I would play Qd4 with Black here.
2. Nf2#
The checking knight cannot be captured by the interposing black piece pinned by the white queen, while it also keeps the white queen from being recaptured, and the black king still lacks an escape square.
Maybe I’m blind to the subtleties of this problem, but I fail to see why 1. d2-d3++ is not mate by White in one. As noted by the previous comment, the Black King has no escape squares, and no way to keep White’s pawn on d2 from moving up one square to apply check (and mate).
The problem with checking with the Queen at b4 is that Black can block the check with his pawn (d5-d4), thereby opening up an escape square (d5) for his King.
Never comment too late at night! 1. d2-d3+ is answered by Ke3 — duh.
In the clear light of day, I believe this is the solution:
1. Nf2+ QxN (forced)
2. Qxh7 mate
I realized my previous solution in two moves is really a mate in 3, because after the Black Queen captures the Knight on f2, Black can stall mate by one more move: 2. … Qf5, after which QxQ is mate.
However, after more thought, I think I may finally have a two-move mate:
1. N(3)f4! threatens mate by (the White Queen) capturing Black’s pawn on d5. And if Black takes with its pawn … e5xf4, 2. Qxp(5) is still mate, because the Rook then defends the Queen.
If instead Black moves his Queen to d4 (or a5) to protect his pawn on d5, 2. Qxp(7) is mate.
Black cannot move his King or any of his pawns, and there is no move by either his Queen or his Bishop which will single-handedly block both mates by capturing either on d5 or or h7 (or, should Black move his Bishop to any square, by 2. Qb1 mate. So Black is doomed after just one move!
As our host warned, that was indeed a tough, but very satisfying, problem.
Try this.
White doesn’t have a forcing check that black’s King cannot escape. 1. Rg4+ Kf4 1. Nc5+ Qxc5 etc. An Zwischenzug is helpful as it blocks the king’s escape square.
1. Nd4 Qxb7
2. Rg4#
Reverend Father, but black doesn’t need to capture on b7. What about 1. … QxN? Now white could play 2. Nf2+, but that is 2. … QxN again, or 2. Rg4+ but that is 2. … Kf5 and the black king runs away.
Dear A. S. Healay,
but what about 1. N3f4 QxQ 2. Nf2 Kd4 and the white king runs away, getting the white queen for nothing? The knight blocking d4 is no longer there, after all…
Thank you for that correction, Imrahil. I had assumed that is why Father Z. stepped in to give the actual solution.
Which is still the solution, by the way. If Black plays QxN instead of QxQ, then 2. Qxh7 is mate.
Dear A. S. Haley,
ah, I see! Thank you!