The Most Marvelous Position to Ever Grace the Chess Board

The Babson Task is my favorite chess puzzle of all time. I made a video that explains the puzzle and discusses the fascinating history of the problem. I thought some people here might enjoy it!

YouTube

(If you haven’t heard of the Babson Task, you’re really missing out)

@BitFlippingMuckraker

Good video. One other interesting bit of history is that the task was achieved in Selfmate form in 1926, a number of years before Yarosh's directmate in 1983.

For those interested in some extra history, there is a good Wiki article on the subject.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babson_task

@BigDoggProblem

Good point! Another remark from your Wikipedia link is that Pierre Drumare, who I mention in the video, also published a Babson task shortly before Yarosh but it wasn't considered satisfactory - the position was illegal and had a ton of promoted pieces on the board.

Hi BitFlippingMuckraker

Good vid, linked it to the Chess Forum Thread 186231

@bitflippingmuckraker said
The Babson Task is my favorite chess puzzle of all time. I made a video that explains the puzzle and discusses the fascinating history of the problem. I thought some people here might enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZlLw0ts3k

(If you haven’t heard of the Babson Task, you’re really missing out)

As a consummate patzer, I must say that I'm accustomed to my own humility in Chess.

But, that puzzle is humbling on all levels.
That such a position could ever be consciously contrived seems super-human. Pure genius.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

@wolfe63 said
As a consummate patzer, I must say that I'm accustomed to my own humility in Chess.

But, that puzzle is humbling on all levels.
That such a position could ever be consciously contrived seems super-human. Pure genius.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

It took years before anyone managed it. I recall a prior thread about this.