White to Play

Pete Tamburro on May 31, 2013

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We’re going to have some Friday fun with this puzzle. The diagrammed position is from a 9th century manuscript and is entitled “The Maiden’s Problem.” It’s a mate in six. Now, some of you sharper eyes will see a mate in three or four, but the trick is that you’re using modern moves of the pieces. You see, the bishop back then didn’t move like it does today. It moved another way! Your task is to figure out what the bishop move was and then mate in six! Two hints: any earlier mate involves the bishop as a modern moving piece and that will help you figure out what the bishop can’t do; Black is about to mate White in one move, so what can you figure out from that? Have fun!

Solution:

Here are some mates that don’t work…

1.Rh8+ Kxh8 2.Bg2+ Kg8 3.Bd5+ Kf8 4.Rh8# which means the bishop couldn’t go to either g2 or d5 by the old rules or maybe both moves weren’t possible!

1.Rh8+ Kxh8 2.Bf1+ Rh2 3.Rxh2+ Kg8 4.Bxc4+ Kf8 5.Rh8# which means the bishop couldn’t reach c4 by the old rules.

1.Nh6+ Kf8 2.g7+ Ke8 3.g8=Q# , which means the bishop can’t reach d7 by the old rules.

So, your best guess is that the bishop can’t move 3 squares or 4 squares and maybe not even 1 square at a time. That leaves 2 squares at a time. But the two squares to f1 didn’t help because the bishop can’t go c4 in the second solution above. Hmmm….maybe there’s something you haven’t considered. If a knight can jump, maybe a bishop can. Yes! 1.Rh8+ Kxh8 2.Bf5+ Rh2 3.Rxh1+ Kg8 4.Rh8+ Kxh8 5.g7+ Kg8 6.Nh6 mate!! And, btw, it wasn’t called a bishop back then for obvious reasons!