Black and White

black and white

By Auguste D’Orville. White to mate in two moves.

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1. Nd2!, followed by 2. c4#. From Problèmes d’Echecs, composés et dédiés aux amateurs de ce jeu, 1842.

October 5, 2011January 29, 2013 | Puzzles

Black and White

calvi chess problem

By Calvi. White to mate in two moves.

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1. Qg2! and Black cannot stop both 2. Qd2# and 2. Nb7#. From Le Palamède, via Charles Tomlinson, Amusements in Chess, 1845.

September 27, 2011January 29, 2013 | Puzzles

Sudden Death

sudden death chess problem

“Paul Morphy IV” submitted this puzzle to the Journal of Recreational Mathematics in 1974. White might capture Black’s queen at this point, but instead can choose to mate on the move. How?

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It’s a trick. The square in the lower right is dark when it should be light, so we must rotate the board 90 degrees. If we turn it to the right then the black king is in check on White’s move, which is illegal. So turn it to the left: Now White can mate by promoting the d7 pawn to a knight. (“Why Prolong It?”, JRM 7:1, p. 62)

September 20, 2011January 29, 2013 | Puzzles

“A Desperate Woman”

A puzzle from Henry Dudeney:

Her eyes were filled with tears, her face was flushed with anger, and her expression was one of indignation at the brutal injury to which she had been subjected.

“You monster of cruelty!” she cried, “I have borne with you too long! The very foundations of my being you have injured. Day by day I have endured your tortures. When first we met your ease and polish attracted me, and when you became my own my friends envied me. Yet see what I have suffered for your sake! You offer every opposition to my advancing myself. Your understanding is far too small for a large soul like mine. My standing in society you have entirely ruined. Had we never met I might have walked in peace. Begone! We part for ever.”

There was a moment’s convulsive breathing, a grinding of teeth, and a quick sigh. It was all over between them. One supreme effort, and she cast it from her —

“‘Whom?’ perhaps the reader will ask. That is the question. I leave you to fill in the blank.”

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“The blank should be filled in with the words ‘her shoe.’ On reading the account again, everything will become quite clear.”

September 19, 2011May 2, 2013 | Puzzles

Fatal Attraction

You have two straight iron bars that look the same. One is a magnet and one is not. How can you tell which is which only by touching them together?

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Touch one to the other in the form of a T. If they stick together, the unmagnetized bar is the crossbar.

September 15, 2011January 28, 2013 | Puzzles

False Fealty

Written in prison by Arthur Connor, a prominent figure in the Irish Rebellion of 1798:

The pomps of Courts and pride of kings
I prize above all earthly things;
I love my country, but the King,
Above all men, his praise I sing.
The Royal banners are displayed,
And may success the standard aid.

I fain would banish far from hence
The “Rights of Man” and “Common Sense.”
Confusion to his odious reign,
That foe to princes, Thomas Paine.
Defeat and ruin seize the cause
Of France, its liberties and laws.

Connor escaped in 1807 and made his way to France, where he became a general in the army. “These two apparently loyal verses, if properly read, bear a very different meaning,” writes Henry Dudeney. “Can you discover it?”

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“Read the first line of the first verse, then the first line of the second verse, next the second line of the first verse, then the second line of the second verse, and so on, when the treasonable character of the lines will be apparent.”

September 13, 2011January 28, 2013 | History · Puzzles

Black and White

sam loyd chess problem

By Sam Loyd. White to mate in two moves.

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1. Rxh6! and Black will be mated along the first rank. From Alain C. White, Sam Loyd and His Chess Problems, 1913.

September 10, 2011January 28, 2013 | Puzzles

A Puzzling Figure

A poser from Jerome S. Meyer’s Puzzle Quiz and Stunt Fun (1956):

“The mark above is the mark of evil. It is the symbol of murder and terror. Millions have died for it and millions have died because of it. Can you tell what it is?”

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It’s Hitler’s signature.

September 7, 2011January 28, 2013 | Puzzles

Sudden Death

Twenty-five basketball teams compete in a knockout tournament — each team is eliminated after its first loss. How many games must be played to establish a winner?

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The simplest course is to consider the losers. The final standings will include 24 losing teams; producing them requires 24 games. That’s the answer.

September 4, 2011January 28, 2013 | Puzzles

Fated

1. P-K4 P-K4 2. B-B4 P-R4 3. Q-B3 P-R4 4. QxP mate:

chess alphametic

That’s a pretty colorless chess game, but Mike Keith points out that the game score makes an alphametic:

P-K4 + P-K4 + B-B4 + P-R4 + Q-B3 + P-R4 + QxP = IWIN

Replace each letter and symbol (-, x) with a digit, leaving the numbers as they are, to produce a valid equation.

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1084 + 1084 + 2024 + 1054 + 3023 + 1054 + 371 = 9694 (The 5s and 8s can be interchanged.) Mike Keith, “An Amazing Chess Alphametic,” Journal of Recreational Mathematics, 9:4, p. 283.

September 3, 2011January 28, 2013 | Puzzles