I came across this elegant composition on a free android program called “Chess Puzzles”.
Pretty simple program and all the problems seem to random and not numbered or searchable, so the problems are pretty ephemeral at best.
But luckily you can at least not go to the next problem until you’ve had a chance to copy it in a chess program.
6K1/3r3r/5kn1/5p2/5P2/6N1/8/4R1R1 w - - 0 1
In any event, this one is fairly difficult. Took me a while to puzzle it out in my head, although I am getting better. I’d suspected the key move, but took me some time to figure out the “why” it was, and I did do it in my head and not with a chess program or even setting up a board.
If anybody wants a hint, pm me. There’s a couple things I can suggest without giving away the answer. (Hints that really can apply to any problem actually).
Of course, depending on your skill level, it might seem impossible, or really easy.
In the spirit of the problem, I won’t say how many moves the problem is, since I wasn’t privy to that information when I originally did it. -At the advanced level in the program, you get zero hints at how many moves the Mate-in-X is, adding to it’s difficulty level.
This is extremely simple as …Rg7 is checkmate. The position listed in the first post did give 0-1 as part of the problem, so it is Black to move and mate.
Although nowadays people make chess problems with either side to move first, traditionally white is suppose to move first. I think in the older days, chess composition contests always had white move first.
In any event, white is to move first in the problem I posted.
