Chess problems are more often than not futuristic, that is, one must analyze a given position to determine how soon Black or White can win or draw. Yet rare is the position that one must engage in retrograde analysis, using deduction and logical reasoning to determine the past history of a game.
Perhaps the most difficult chess problem I’ve ever seen of that genre is depicted above. Given that the game was played with legal moves only, the quest is to figure out that which piece resides at square h4. There is only one of the 12 missing pieces which can sit on this square. Yes, there is enough information to figure it out.
Chess players are known to look for the minutest advantage to score a victory; on or off the board. In one match (pun not intended), one player withdrew a cigarette from his breast pocket and placed it gingerly on the table. When the opponent protested that smoking was against the rules, the first player said that he was not smoking. The opponent challenged the referee saying that in chess, it is not necessarily what you are doing, but rather the threat of what you might do. The umpire agreed.
In another tournament, a neophyte touched a rook pawn to start the game. Before she placed it on the new square, she changed her mind and decided to move the king pawn. The opponent challenged her saying that once she touched the rook pawn, she must move it, while she claimed that the game hadn’t started yet. Ingenuitively (no, there is no such word), she switched her rook pawn and king pawn claiming that she was still setting up the pieces and then proceeded to move the piece she had touched!
Intelligence has always been a hallmark of chess players. Many great chess players of world championship caliber were/are Jewish. This week’s Mishpacha magazine features GrandMasters Boris Gulko and Leonid (Aryeh) Yudasin as some current examples of this phenomenon. They join a long list of Jewish greats who played the game. Aron Nimzowitsch, Akiva Rubinstein and Samuel Reshevsky are more examples. Additionally, these three all attended Yeshivos.
The great Chess Championship of 1972 which pitted Boris Spassky against Robert (Bobby) Fischer brought great pride to the United States in that they were finally able to beat the Soviets. Both Spassky and Fischer were born from Jewish mothers.
In fact, better than half of the World Chess Champions in the modern era were Jewish.
Updated 6/13/2010
Chess I
Fine post. Yet this position is impossible, since the rook on d7 could not have delivered the current check, as it has no square from which to arrive.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you are not familiar with the rules of underpromtion. But see the first post in this series which explains that a pawn need not necessarily be promoted to become a queen, but a rook, knight or bishop are also acceptable. In this case, the last move of white was a pawn on c7 capturing a piece on d8 and underpromoting to become a rook.
ReplyDeleteActually, Mishpacha got it right. Fischer *is* Jewish(he knew his matrilinear ancestry too: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/news/13891951.html?page=1&c=y#axzz0qBTKsgBh).
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I didn't think Spassky was Jewish, and this website seems to confirm my thought: http://www.jinfo.org/Chess_Champions.html
Baruch, I think you are correct. I have definitely seen that Spassky was Jewish, but there are reports that he has denied it. I will update the post. Seems like Bobby Fischer had both a Jewish father and Jewish mother.
ReplyDeleteSee page 69 of the authoritative Fisher/Spassky The New York Times Report on the Chess Match of the Century, By Richard Roberts where it says...
ReplyDeleteBoris Vasilyevich Spassky was born in Leningrad on January 30, 1937 to a Russian father and a Jewish mother...
The NYT book's assertion is contra Spassky's own assertion in the well-researched Fischer Goes to War, so I'm hesitant to pronounce judgment; I sent our shaila to Cecil Adams.
ReplyDeleteBaruch Pelta
I don't think that the last move of white was a pawn taking a black piece on d8, as there is no black piece that could have been there last move. Pawns don't grow on the initial rank, both knights are still on the board, it couldn't be black's black bishop, as that bishop never left it's home square, it couldn't be black's white bishop for obvious reasons, and it couldn't be the black queen or rooks because it would have been check and whites king could not be now where it is!
ReplyDeleteAh, my friend, why do you underestimate the underpromotion? Why couldn't black have underpromoted to another knight or a Black bishop?
ReplyDeleteAlmost all sources say that Spassky's mother was Jewish.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all sources state that Spassky's mother was Jewish. What is the solution to the chess problem?
ReplyDeleteAlmost all sources confirm that Spassky's mother was Jewish. By the way, what is the solution??
ReplyDeleteThe piece on h4 can not be black. The pawn that was on c7, (now on d7 as the underpromoted rook), what piece did it take? The piece could not have been a black queen or rook, as the white king would then have been in check and could not be currently on the eighth rank. The pawn could not have taken a pawn, as pawns only begin on the 2nd rank. The two knights of black are still on the board, and the original black bishop on black squares never left it's home square (as the e7 and g7 pawns have never moved), and it could not have taken the black bishop on white squares, as this square is black. Hence, the only possibility is that black underpromoted to a second black bishop or a knight...
ReplyDelete...so the only possibility is that black underpromted to a 3rd knight or another black bishop. Now since the total number of black bishops and knights in this game is five (there is only one black pawn missing) and one of these captures happened d8, one on f8, there are two knights currently on the board, and the black white bishop could never reach a white square, the mystery piece on h4 can not be a black knight or bishop. It also can not be a pawn, as the 8th pawn underpromoted, as previously stated. It could not be a black rook or queen, as then black and white would be in simultaneous check. Hence the piece must be white.
ReplyDelete