The bare king

[MJMcCready]

What with it being a bright Sunday afternoon where I find myself with little to do once more, I did as I on occasion do, and dipped into Murray's A History of Chess. I thought I' d have read of chapter 11 as it's so long since I last did. Either I'm having the sort of day where my reading skills aren't honed, or alternatively, the beggings of under-promotion, are inconclusive. It's most likely me not concentrating sufficiently. I did find a puzzle of interest. White to play and draw, how and in what context? Feel free to say who the creator was also.

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[David Sedgwick]

One of my more treasured chess books is an original 1889 edition of Steinitz's "Modern Chess Instructor", in which this position is given on Page xxiv.

Steinitz attributes the position to Lowenthal in his book of the London International Chess Congress 1862. The Committee of that Congress drew up a set of Laws under which promotion could be refused, with the Pawn remaining as a "dummy" Pawn.

If White plays 1. bxa8=Q/R/B/N, Black plays 1. ... gxh3, with mate next move. However, if White plays 1. bxa8=DummyP, then 1. ... gxh3 is stalemate and other Black moves only draw.

I have passed this on to Alex McFarlane in connection with the forthcoming book on the History of the Laws which he, Shaun Press and Stewart Reuben are co-authoring.

[MJMcCready]

Wonderful.

[Rewan Demontay]

David Sedgeick, the source that you give is merely a reprint. This problem that shows promotion of a pawn to a pawn to draw, called the dummy pawn, actually goes back to 1851. It was created by Josef Kling and Bernhard Horowitz and it was published in "The Chess Player," on page 76 on 9/20/1851. You can see it for yourself on Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=k4QEA ... ry&f=false

This problem is also on the Die Schwalbe Chess Problem Database: https://pdb.dieschwalbe.de/P1372387. Edward Winter also covered it in C.N. 7619: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter93.html

You can find an overview of the history of the dummy pawn on Chess Stack Exchange. I have done much research on it and added to my friend Laska's post this year. You will find info published nowhere else so far-https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/21214/15543

[David Sedgwick]

David Sedgwick, the source that you give is merely a reprint. This problem that shows promotion of a pawn to a pawn to draw, called the dummy pawn, actually goes back to 1851. It was created by Josef Kling and Bernhard Horowitz and it was published in "The Chess Player," on page 76 on 9/20/1851. You can see it for yourself on Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=k4QEA ... ry&f=false

Steinitz made no claim to originality. I mentioned in my earlier post that he attributed the position to Lowenthal, in the latter's book of the London International Chess Congress 1862.

One would need to consult that book to establish whether Lowenthal acknowledged the original source.

[Tim Harding]

David Sedgwick, the source that you give is merely a reprint. This problem that shows promotion of a pawn to a pawn to draw, called the dummy pawn, actually goes back to 1851. It was created by Josef Kling and Bernhard Horowitz and it was published in "The Chess Player," on page 76 on 9/20/1851. You can see it for yourself on Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=k4QEA ... ry&f=false

Steinitz made no claim to originality. I mentioned in my earlier post that he attributed the position to Lowenthal, in the latter's book of the London International Chess Congress 1862.

One would need to consult that book to establish whether Lowenthal acknowledged the original source.

Yes he did attribute it to Kling, on page lxxii