Another Easy Mate in 1

Question

Standard chess rules apply, the board is not rotated (i.e. white pawns move upwards), no lateral thinking is needed. Simply find the one move for white which mates the black king.

This puzzle was created by Leonid Kubbel.

@MeaCulpaNay apparently so, it appears some pawns have promoted. — boboquack, Nov 15 '17 at 09:30
See about the 29 minute mark in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0saFg21rbY8, where grang master Ben Finegold "analyses" this exact puzzle (he talks about it for a few minutes, at least). — Arthur, Nov 15 '17 at 13:55
@Arthur I came here to post Ben Finegold and I wasn't dsappointed. Very suspicious. — Reti43, Nov 16 '17 at 09:50
@thecoder16 Good, because those are the only ones I can solve. I feel like an idiot whenever I come here — MechMK1, Nov 16 '17 at 09:58
@M.M You could ask a similar question about any math puzzle here. Regarding chess puzzles at least the "funny" ones are considered on topic here. According to a meta post serious chess puzzles should be posted on chess.se, but I don't see any puzzles posted there regularly, which makes me doubt if they are welcome there at all. — Sleafar, Nov 17 '17 at 05:17

score 32 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 15 '17 at 09:26

32

It's simple:

Move the queen on e3 to a3

This gives the position:

which is clearly mate.

NB:

The black queen on e5 is pinned by the white rook on e1, so it can't intercept.

answered Nov 15 '17 at 09:26

boboquack

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Correct, I needed way longer than you to find the move. – Sleafar Nov 15 '17 at 09:29
@Sleafar I find with these problems you just need to find the obvious trap squares, then get around them. – boboquack Nov 15 '17 at 09:31
2

I was quite busy with the red herring on d7. – Sleafar Nov 15 '17 at 09:33
i'm wondering if moving the bishop in g3 to h4 is a winning move too, as only the black queen can intercept it – Neil Nov 15 '17 at 11:31
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What is the problem with queening the pawn d7-d8? – Chris Nov 15 '17 at 11:41
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@Chris It's pinned by the bishop – Rubio Nov 15 '17 at 11:58
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Aha! Of course. I spent so long looking for how black could get out of it that I completely forgot to check if it was a legal move! :) – Chris Nov 15 '17 at 12:02
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@Neil Rg5 blocks that check. – Herb Nov 15 '17 at 12:33
what is wrong with e3 queen to g5? – kaine Nov 15 '17 at 15:45
@kaine 1. Qg5+ Qxg5 – Sleafar Nov 15 '17 at 15:46
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Knight at H8 to G6? Nope biship B1 v knight – xQbert Nov 15 '17 at 17:37
Rook at H5 to e5? Nope c4 e6\ – xQbert Nov 15 '17 at 17:42
I think b8->d6 is also winning. – DJClayworth Nov 15 '17 at 22:48
@DJClayworth 1... Kf6 – boboquack Nov 15 '17 at 23:01
Doesn't b4 delay the mate by 1 move? – cHao Nov 15 '17 at 23:18
@cHao It's white's move – boboquack Nov 15 '17 at 23:21
I meant ...b4. To block the queen. But i was looking at the board wrong. :P – cHao Nov 15 '17 at 23:23

score 20 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 16 '17 at 07:35

20

@boboquack found the only solution. The following list shows suggestions from comments and other answers together with their refutation. You can click each link to show an image/animation.

1.d8=Q (invalid move, pawn is pinned)

1.dxc8=Q+ Bb7

1.dxc8=N+ Ke8

1.Rxe5+ Be6+

1.Qxe5+ Be6+

1.Ng6+ Bxg6

1.Nf5+ Bxf5+

1.Bd6+ Kf6

1.Bh4+ Rg5

1.Qg5+ Qxg5

edited Nov 16 '17 at 07:35

boboquack

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answered Nov 15 '17 at 19:09

Sleafar

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What about moving d7 to d8 and promoting to queen? – Rick Nov 16 '17 at 09:38
@RickvanOsta It's at the top of the list. – Sleafar Nov 16 '17 at 09:39

JasonRDalton · Answer 3 · 2017-11-15T17:03:20.730

-1

Knight to G6, right?

No capture No escape for King in any direction.

edited Nov 15 '17 at 17:03

answered Nov 15 '17 at 17:01

JasonRDalton

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Nope: 1. ... Bxg6 – Sleafar Nov 15 '17 at 17:02
The bishop at b1 captures. – Prune Nov 16 '17 at 01:05

Horizonshard · Answer 4 · 2017-11-15T18:18:49.967

-1

White queen at e3 takes black queen at e5

This should mate the king

Edit: did not see that a bishop could block this. This is not a mate.

edited Nov 15 '17 at 18:18

answered Nov 15 '17 at 17:24

Horizonshard

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K escapes to F8 – xQbert Nov 15 '17 at 17:33
@xQbert F8 is guarded by bishop at H6 – Horizonshard Nov 15 '17 at 17:35
At true missed that – xQbert Nov 15 '17 at 17:38
1

How about: bishop at c4 moves to e6, blocking check? – psmears Nov 15 '17 at 17:45
@psmears touche. didn't see that – Horizonshard Nov 15 '17 at 17:46
I think bob has it. I can't see a way around it. – xQbert Nov 15 '17 at 17:47
As @psmears said, this isn't a mate. – Sleafar Nov 15 '17 at 18:16

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 15 '17 at 22:28

-1

Knight, D4 to F5. I think this meets the criteria.

answered Nov 15 '17 at 22:28

user42339

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Nope, Bxf5 prevents mate. – boboquack Nov 15 '17 at 22:31

score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 16 '17 at 19:21

-1

What about moving the bishop from g3 to h4.

Seems like a winner to me.

answered Nov 16 '17 at 19:21

KillerKoala

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The refutation for this was already posted: Rg5 – Sleafar Nov 16 '17 at 19:24
Ah didn't see that. I don't know what the chess abbreviations mean – KillerKoala Nov 16 '17 at 19:30
Therefore I added animations to the list above. And there is only one solution. – Sleafar Nov 16 '17 at 19:31
Right but I didn't want to click and wait for every animation to find the move I was thinking of. It would've been easier to just write the moves in plain English – KillerKoala Nov 16 '17 at 19:33
I doubt it would be easier, it would be too long and nobody would read it. The chess notation isn't really that complicated. Usually it's the name of the piece + target square. – Sleafar Nov 16 '17 at 19:38

score -3 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 15 '17 at 16:19

-3

I have a solution that can be given in just nine characters, but Stack Exchange demands that an answer be at least 30 characters long. So now that I've satisfied that restriction:

d7xc8 = N

answered Nov 15 '17 at 16:19

Acccumulation

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Nope: 1. ... Ke8 – Sleafar Nov 15 '17 at 16:28
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doesn't work, king esxapes to e8 – Sconibulus Nov 15 '17 at 16:30
The king can't escape to e8 if the pawn is queened instead of knighted (or any other sufficiently mobile piece), and the knight isn't needed because of the rook on a7, but the bishop can block h1 to b7. – Jason Nov 15 '17 at 18:58

Another Easy Mate in 1

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