Author: Marc Plum
Date: 15:51:52 11/09/99
Go up one level in this thread
Two Knights and a King can never mate a lone King. You may well be thinking of
the ending King and two Knights vs. King and one pawn. This is often a win for
the two Knights if the pawn is blocked and isn't too far advanced. The reason
is that the availability of pawn moves at a critical juncture will prevent
stalemate. The ending is horribly difficult for humans, and at one time, the 50
move rule draw was extended to 100 moves for some positions with this material
balance.
There are, I believe, endgame tablebases available for this, and other people
may be able to tell you what they show, but let's also give due credit to a
human who worked before computers. The Russian endgame composer Alexei Troitzky
(1866-1942) did a lot of work on this ending, I haven't heard that any of his
work has actually been refuted by computers, although I'm sure many details have
been filled in. It was his analytical work, according to the "Oxford Companion
to Chess" that led to that revision of the 50 move rule, mentioned above.
On November 09, 1999 at 18:17:53, Scott Schneider wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>Scott Schneider here. You may remember me from years back when I contributed an
>"Op/Ed" Piece to Computer Chess Reports, when it still existed as conventional
>hardcopy publication.
>
>I remember reading some years back that Computer simulations have proved that 2
>Knights + King can always mate a Lone King, vaguely remember that <=266 moves
>may be required.
>
>I also understood that this was not known until ChessMasters and Programmers
>proved this on Computers very recently.
>
>First, is this info. basically this correct?
>
>Secondly, what detailed methods or analyses were used to accomplish this result?
>Are any of these Programs/Simulations with explanations and documentation
>available for purchase or as shareware/freeware to the ordinary end-Consumer or
>chess enthusiast?
>
>When I started really getting into chess decades ago, one of the Qualifying
>Scenarios for a draw was 50 moves without a piece being captured or a pawn
>moved. If the King + 2 Knights Mate can require more than 250 moves, has this
>changed any Official Tournament Rules of Chess?
>
>Best Regards and Thanks very much in advance for your replies,
>
>
>
>Scott Schneider, President
>Imaginative Technology, Inc. ("Imatech")
>813.926.4447
>http://www.imatech.com
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