Page 2 of 2
Re: Lateral Puzzle.
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:02 pm
by Matthew Turner
Chris,
You are not on the right lines there. You really have to think a bit more abstractly.
Re: Lateral Puzzle.
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:03 pm
by Geoff Chandler
Hi Chris,
It is a position that cannot be reached legally, sounds like you have it.
(Usually I set it up with no White King on the board - I gave 3 clues hinting it was odd, as well as saying ignore the White King.)
Re: Lateral Puzzle.
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 10:09 pm
by Matthew Turner
My bad, I didn't read Chris' last line, so in fact he had it all along. He just made the mistake of thinking Chandler would be restrained by legal considerations
Re: Lateral Puzzle.
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:52 pm
by Geoff Chandler
Hi Mathew,
Try it on players, (leave the white King off the board which gives a hint it's illegal.)
It is a nod to how good pattern recognition is and how much we depend on it. (though we do not know we are doing it.)
This is one the coaching positions I use for my kids who have bit more experience. Good but raw round the edges.
White to play and right away they give happily a Philidor's Legacy mate in 5 starting with 1.Qe6+
Thanks to pattern recognition we can all see, instantly, in a split second, a mate in 5.
I then ask them why mate in 5 moves when you can mate in 4 moves or even 2 moves.
They often moan because I am tricking them. I tell them I'm tricking then for fun and to learn in a classroom.
Your opponents will be trying to trick you over the board in earnest and it's not funny when they succeed.
Re: Lateral Puzzle.
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2021 11:53 pm
by Christopher Kreuzer
Heh, yes, that's the position I had (surely it only has 4-fold symmetry, unless you specify the rooks as being different?). For some great puzzles like this, see the books by
Raymond Smullyan.