Leonardo Da Vinci's 1500 year old Chess Puzzle
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Dude, that would make it 500 years old at most
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Which shape is which piece?
Kolkhoznik wrote:
Which shape is which piece?
Exactly.
This is more devilish than we first expected. I tried to plug it into Fritz, but there was no way to put a mushroom on h2.
Was it found under the shroud at Turin ? Or was there a chinese take- away nearby.
Sorry I meant 500 years old.
I believe this is the position, with white pieces on the right hand side (in the manuscript). Mr. da Vinci expected the reader to find a mate in three moves.
Should there not also be a black pawn on b5?
Kolkhoznik wrote:
Should there not also be a black pawn on b5?
Thanks, corrected!
Apparently someone has already made a chess set based on these pieces (leonardochess.com). But it's only for the very rich. Like, 800 Euros.
Hey, it's great to see this discussion!
I have some very nice sets of this design which are more in line with the Renaissance style, and less expensive. I will have them listed soon.
You fellows may have noticed that Raymond Keene, the grandmaster and great chess author, has gotten a bit of publicity with this particular chess puzzle -- but mistaking the queens for kings and kings for queens. Yikes!
The pawn on the first rank really is a bit of a mystery -- I'm not sure if turning the board sideways is the right answer ... really, this position could stand some deeper analysis, both considering the old rules of chess and the new rules -- it could be either. But so far the puzzles from Pacioli's book that i HAVE analyzed are definitely using the old rules (much weaker queen and bishop). I'll have YouTube video on this coming soon.
Rick
AncientChess.com
I think i got the answer to the problem.
1. Bf3+ Nxf3 2. Re2+ Kd3 3. Rc3#
1...Kd3 2. Re2#
1...Ke3 2. Nf5+ Rxf5 3. Qd2#
I'm actually glad that someone posted in this thread a year after it was made. Now I can be (somewhat) sure that Leo was indeed, one of us, one of us, ONE OF US!
Seriously: check the video you YouTube,
Luca Pacioli - De Ludo Scachorum - Review of Chess Puzzles - Da Vinci - AncientChess.com
You'll see that a lot more information is available regarding the identities of the pieces.