1. e4
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    05 Jun '22 20:33

    Quite long this one as I expect to be playing about 40+ games soon
    in a Hardcore tournament and I am going for a 7-10 day holiday.

    A live reconstruction of a 1992 British Chess Magazine cartoon.
    From the same magazine a pitfall avoided by an opponent of
    Mickey Adams only for a RHP player to fall into 15 years later.

    A look at a batch of Red Hot Pawn stalemates and three different chess problems.

    W.R. Todd, Stratford Express 1930 (White to play and mate in three.)

    This is really good. Not too difficult and very rewarding.

    The White King has just moved from f3 to g3. How? It was in check from both
    the Queen and the Rook. It could not have been a double or discovered check.

    The position is legal, but how did it happen.

    J. Szabolcsi - M. Henttinen, Hungary 1981. (White to play and win)

    (solutions in the blog)

    That last problem leads to another RHP game where our man went wrong.

    Blog Post 521
  2. Joined
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    06 Jun '22 01:39
    @greenpawn34
    Thanks for the article. I especially enjoyed solving the mate in 3, the third branch of which I found particularly pleasing.
  3. Standard memberBigDogg
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    06 Jun '22 17:361 edit
    @greenpawn34 said

    Quite long this one as I expect to be playing about 40+ games soon
    in a Hardcore tournament and I am going for a 7-10 day holiday.

    A live reconstruction of a 1992 British Chess Magazine cartoon.
    From the same magazine a pitfall avoided by an opponent of
    Mickey Adams only for a RHP player to fall into 15 years later.

    A look at a batch of Red Hot Paw ...[text shortened]... lem leads to another RHP game where our man went wrong.

    Blog Post 521
    The retro is the same theme as one I've posted often:

    R. Smullyan, 1957

    Where is the white King?
  4. e4
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    07 Jun '22 01:34
    Hi BigDogg

    The WK is on c3. I cannot recall seeing it before but your clue
    strongly hinted there was an e.p. capture.

  5. Standard memberBigDogg
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    08 Jun '22 08:02
    @greenpawn34 said
    Hi BigDogg

    The WK is on c3. I cannot recall seeing it before but your clue
    strongly hinted there was an e.p. capture.

    [pgn]
    [Event "?"]
    [Site "?"]
    [Date "????.??.??"]
    [Round "?"]
    [White "?"]
    [Black "?"]
    [Result "*"]
    [SetUp "1"]
    [FEN "8/8/8/1r1b4/Bp6/1K6/2P5/3k4 w - - 0 1"]
    1. c4 bxc3+ 2. Kxc3+ *
    [/pgn]
    Yes - IMO one of the best retros of all time. En passant without a single pawn in the starting diagram, which causes many a solver to struggle in finding the solution, despite the simple-looking appearance.
  6. e4
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    08 Jun '22 12:13
    Hi BigDogg,

    That position is on the cover of 'The Chess Mysteries of the Arabian Knights'
    by Raymond Smullyan! It's is in the Edinburgh Library. an autographed copy!
    ( I have the Sherlock Holmes book but not this one.)

    You probably have it but I'll add (see page 168) that he showed a friend this problem who showed it to another friend, who showed it to another friend who
    showed his father who sent it to the games editor of The Manchester Guardian.

    It appeared uncredited, Raymond corresponded and his missing name was added.
    However the slight damage had been done and it popped up again uncredited
    in the 'Scientific American' (someone had seen the original Guardian version and
    sent it in adding it was remarkable and wondering who composed it.

    A reader and former fellow student of Raymond recognised it and wrote to the 'Scientific American'. The editor got in touch with Raymond and advised he do a
    book of these creations - so that is why that position appears on the cover.

    I am not too sure where I got my one from, (I recall it said 'Anon' )
    I've been going through old Scotsman Weekly from the 1930's. It could have
    come from there. But I also went through a load of old BCM's and a few other
    books - I'll see if I can find and date my source.
  7. e4
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    08 Jun '22 20:23

    I found out where I got that retro study from.

    It was in a column by Andy (sic) Soltis, he writes books as 'Andrew Soltis.'
    'The Anti Problem' page 307 of the 'Chess Life and Review' May 1972.

    You can view that edition online here;
    http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/1972/1972_05.pdf

    'Andy' does not mention an author and he actually gives this position.


    I was poking about the 1972 CL&R looking for something that Bob Wade
    mentioned when I saw the plea by David Hooper asking for Capablanca games.

    Then I spotted the problem. Solved it and a few weeks later blogged it.
    I remembered the bones of it, forgot the pawns. I think my one is accidently
    better as it gave me a chance to show that silly White win. I'm into silliness.

  8. Standard memberBigDogg
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    08 Jun '22 21:401 edit
    @greenpawn34 said

    I found out where I got that retro study from.

    It was in a column by Andy (sic) Soltis, he writes books as 'Andrew Soltis.'
    'The Anti Problem' page 307 of the 'Chess Life and Review' May 1972.

    You can view that edition online here;
    http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/1972/1972_05.pdf

    'Andy' does not mention an author and he actua ...[text shortened]...
    better as it gave me a chance to show that silly White win. I'm into silliness.

    Another problem popped into my head, similar to this diagram.

    Sam Loyd, 1891
    What was the last move?
    Black resigned!


    Edit: good to know of the existence of old digital CL issues!
  9. e4
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    08 Jun '22 22:04
    It looks like the same theme.

    Reveal Hidden Content
    last move was Kxpg3
  10. Standard memberBigDogg
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    08 Jun '22 22:06
    @greenpawn34 said
    It looks like the same theme.

    Hidden content removed
    Yes...same theme.

    Why wasn't the last move bxa8=B or bxc8=Q?
  11. e4
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    09 Jun '22 09:31
    @BigDogg

    Is that the white pawn structure. There was nothing left to capture on a8 or c8.
  12. Standard memberBigDogg
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    09 Jun '22 15:24
    @greenpawn34 said
    @BigDogg

    Is that the white pawn structure. There was nothing left to capture on a8 or c8.
    Yes. The pawns in the diagram 'only' require five captures to get where they are, but a promoted pawn must have come from f2, requiring five more captures.
  13. e4
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    09 Jun '22 21:39
    That was just a guess, a good guess, I never worked it out
    but it seemed like the only possible answer.
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