Pandolfini's Puzzler #9 - Six Hard Moves
“Occasionally,” Professor Pando began, “I lighten up and pose easy problems anyone can solve, even a novice. Cast your eyes on the following position.”
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White to move
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Question: How can White checkmate Black in six moves?”
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“Six moves?” Zephyr asked. “That’s not an easy thing to do, to look six moves ahead. There are so many possibilities.”
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But then Zephyr really began to look at the position. And she noticed something -- and she chuckled.
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“Oh, the problem is really very easy.”
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What did Zephyr mean?
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Answer below - Try to solve ProfessorPando's Puzzler first!
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ANSWER #9
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Zephyr soon understood that all six moves were forced (except Black’s 5th move).
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The variation Zephyr found was: 1. d4 b5 2. d5 b4 3. axb4 a3 4. b5 a2 5. b6 a1=Q (or Black could underpromote as well) 6. b7 mate!.
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Take note
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The present example shows that the difficulty of problem is not solely based on its length. A short problem can be very hard and a long one can be very easy.
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RELATED STUDY MATERIAL
- Watch Benzoo's videos on king and pawn endings, part one, part two and part three;
- Read and solve Bounding Owl's puzzles on king and pawn endings.
