Along with Loyd and Shinkman, I would love to have met T.R. Dawson. These three problem composers created some really out there puzzles. It would be fascinating just to get inside their creative mind for a bit. When you look at today's mate in two, you cannot help but ask yourself how this creation came into his mind. Once you see the solution, it would be instructive and increase your appreciation to go over why each chess piece is on the board. Can you figure out why the two h-pawns are there? One more thing: it is a LEGAL chess position! Very important!

Soution:

1.bxa6 en passant! For those of you who found 1.Qxc7, which also leads to mate in two, it's not the correct answer because the position could not be legal. For it to be legal, you have to ask yourself the question, "What was Black's last move?" The only thing Black could have moved last move was the a-pawn. It could not have come from a6 because then White wouldn't have had a last move!! If you try to simply accept the pawn being on a5, then 1.Qxc7 doesn't work because there was no last move for Black. Notice that White has ALL of his men, so no Black piece or pawn could have just captured anything. Thus, Black had to have played a7-a5 last move and White then captures en passant with mate next. For those of you who are really curious, see how far backwards you can go, figuring out the last moves for each side. That will give you a greater respect for what a genius like Dawson created out of his mind.

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.