Friday, June 17, 2016

Interesting Problem

I ran across this problem at elometer.net (Try elometer yourself! You get puzzles to solve and get a rating.)

Here's a very nice problem for school-age children. It's White's turn - he knows he can't win with jut a Bishop, but he's going to try to get a draw. The black pawns are connected and advanced, but Black's King cannot move so maybe we have a chance. See if you can figure it out.


Solution: 1. Bg3 d3 2. Bxf2 d2! (not exf2?) 3. Be1!! Now Black can't queen because of stalemate and capturing results in a draw. Under-promotion doesn't win, so it's a draw. Wow! You had to stick your Bishop right in front of two different pawns!