Ignore the kings completely! White to stop the pawns queening. I think I may have set them up going the wrong direction, I can't remember and I can't be bothered to check. The black pawns are all two moves from being promoted.

in that position the black king is to be mated in one move...

Qxe6, if h7, Qxf6 will stop both pawns

if g7, then Qg8 stops all the pawns

if f7, then Qf6 h7 Qg7 also stops the pawns

theplayer, it says ignore the kings

You got it. Aparently this is a Soviet talent test. It is meant to be done in under 3 minutes without moving any pieces.

Lord-Svenstikov wrote: You got it. Aparently this is a Soviet talent test. It is meant to be done in under 3 minutes without moving any pieces.

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Do you know at what stage they give this test? I imagine that someone with very little chess talent who has studied for a while and become an expert could solve this easily in under a minute. At the same time, I could imagine someone with a great deal of chess potential who just learned the game not quite getting this in 3 minutes. Maybe I am wrong about my second statement (and maybe I have very little chess talent).

I don't know at what stage they give it, but I cannot believe it can be very far on in their training; hardly master level stuff. I imagen it is used on people who have been playing < a year.