Author: Matthew Hull
Date: 13:14:35 01/09/05
Go up one level in this thread
On January 09, 2005 at 10:48:23, F. Huber wrote: >On January 09, 2005 at 09:28:15, Matthew Hull wrote: > >>Composed by J. N. Babson, Seattle, Washington, in 1878. >> >>Black -- 16 pieces >>White -- 16 pieces >> >>Either White or Black to play and checkmate, or compel his adversary to >>checkmate in eleven moves. >> >>[D]Nb1QN3/1pp1PPp1/1rnn1p1P/1Pkr2B1/P1pRpK1p/2P1P2B/2qb2Pp/4R3 w - - 0 1 > >Hi Matthew, > >that´s really an amazing position! > >I´ve now checked all 4 cases and can confirm three of them: > >Nb1QN3/1pp1PPp1/1rnn1p1P/1Pkr2B1/P1pRpK1p/2P1P2B/2qb2Pp/4R3 b - - bm #11; 00:00 >@ C3/K5/P3/X6; >Nb1QN3/1pp1PPp1/1rnn1p1P/1Pkr2B1/P1pRpK1p/2P1P2B/2qb2Pp/4R3 w - - bm s#11; 00:00 >@ C1/K2/P2/X2; >Nb1QN3/1pp1PPp1/1rnn1p1P/1Pkr2B1/P1pRpK1p/2P1P2B/2qb2Pp/4R3 b - - bm s#11; 00:02 >@ C1/K5/P3/X4; > >So both selfmates in 11 are ok, and also the mate in 11 if it´s blacks turn - >but if white has to move it seems to be only a mate in 12!? > >Nb1QN3/1pp1PPp1/1rnn1p1P/1Pkr2B1/P1pRpK1p/2P1P2B/2qb2Pp/4R3 w - - bm #12; 00:00 >@ C3/K4/P2/X3; > >I´ve tested this with Chest, King and GoliathMate - Gustav failed because it >doesn´t accept this position as legal. >Of course I´ve not tried it yet with Chest in brute-force mode (this would >take too long on my slow notebook), but I´m quite sure that this #12 is >indeed the shortest possible. >But if you have a solution in 11 moves, please post the mainline here - >maybe then I could check it again with Chest. Wow! That's and incredible verification for the three problems, all composed nearly a century before an adequate computer could be expected to verify it. I have never seen this problem published except in the July-August, 1924, Vol. 21 of The American Chess Bulletin. None of the subsequent issues contain a solution, which according to the author, had never been correctly submitted up to that date, though TACB stated that it had "an exhausting analysis of the position" from the author in its possesion. So I've never seen the solution published. Regards, Matt > >Regards, >Franz.
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