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Subject: Re: K and Q vs. K

Author: Dave Gomboc

Date: 12:12:06 03/13/00

Go up one level in this thread


On March 13, 2000 at 14:15:52, KarinsDad wrote:

>On March 12, 2000 at 15:54:16, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On March 12, 2000 at 15:39:57, John Coffey wrote:
>>
>>>[D]1Q6/K7/8/3k4/8/8/8/8 w - -
>>>
>>>I had this position in a game and I wondered what the shortest route to mate
>>>is.  I have seen methods by which one advances the king first and other methods
>>>where one advances the queen first.
>>>
>>>I think that Qf4 might be the best move although I can't prove it.
>>>
>>>I gave the problem to Fritz6 thinking that it would either know the answer
>>>immediately or would be able to find it quickly.  After some searching it came
>>>up with mate in 31, but after playing a move or two it quickly turned into mate
>>>in 9.
>>>
>>>After searching several hours Fritz came up with Qb4 mate in 26.  I don't know
>>>if that is the fastest solution since I have heard that one can mate with this
>>>in less than 20 moves.
>>>
>>>John
>>
>>Here is the right answer:
>>
>>White(1): egtb !
>>1. Qf4! Kc5 2. Qe4 Kb5! 3. Qd4 Ka5 4. Kb7! Kb5! 5. Kc7! Ka5! 6. Kc6!
>>Ka6! 7. Qb6#
>>
>>Obviously a mate in 7.  Moves with a ! after them are the _only_ move that
>>provides the best resistance (all other moves there result in a shorter
>>mate).
>
>
>So why are there ! marks after white moves? Since black is performing the
>resistance, it does not make sense that a white ! move means that it provides
>the best resistance (rather, the shortest mate at the current position).
>
>KarinsDad :)
>
>PS. I couldn't resist being a smart---.
>
>PSS. After working on our program last night for 5 hours, my partner and I
>managed to only fix 3 bugs (none of which are the reason for the major bug we
>are really trying to fix). However, the good news is that my partner previously
>put hash tables into the code behind my back. The bad news is that the main bug
>we are trying to fix may be due to the hash table (and it is not yet coded to
>simply remove hashing if desired). Sigh.
>
>
>>
>>(the above is output from Crafty).

If there's an exclamation mark after White's move, it probably means that it's
the only _winning_ move -- that other moves draw.

Dave



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