Sherlock Holmes Puzzle

A friend of mine had sent me this puzzle which he said came from The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: Fifty Tantalizing Problems of Chess Detection  by Raymond M. Smullyan. New York: Knopf, 1979.

According to Amazon.com:

In each problem the solver has to deduce certain events in a game's past. For example: On what square was the White queen captured? or, Is the White queen promoted or original? Since these problems involve the same sort of logical reasoning that lies at the core of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Raymond Smullyan has aptly set each one within its own Holmes-Watson dialogue. In each case Holmes, by his remarkable powers of deduction, is able to demonstrate to his awed admirers precisely what must have happened, move by move, at the "scene of the crime" -- the chess table. For example: what the missing piece is; what square it should be on; whether or not either side can castle.

If this is a typical example, I'd wholeheartedly recommend the book.

                                                                                                             
                                 ____________________________________________________

                                                     The Puzzle

You happen upon this position on my board and I tell you that during the game
No pawn ever reached the 8^th rank.

Am I  telling the truth or am I  lying?

____________________________________________________

impossible

Not at all, my dear Watson, not at all.

Actually, the question is:  Am I lying that no pawn has ever reached the 8th rank?

and, of course, the reason for the answer

False. The white pawn on h2 had to promote to a dark square bishop because the two white pawns on the board still haven't moved, so the bishop on c1 couldn't move anywhere. So the only way for there to be a white dark square bishop is via promotion.

Liar!!!

Is this a trick question?

sadern is quite correct!

Fixed.

Didn't know it was broken.

I figured that was why you didn't fix it.

White was a liar and a lousy chess player... but we still love him.

I see now my first comment was too short for the chess audience. I didn't want to spoil the fun by telling what I thougt was the right answer. The bishop on c1 didn't have to move, it could have been exchanged on c1. But in that case the bishop on g3 was promoted on h8, and white would have been a liar. As already pointed out by others. So the position is possible, but the white player was at least a liar. Maybe a lousy chessplayer too, what do we know...

So, where were you the whole night between h1 and h8?

I've got a similar book by Smullyan, 'What is the name of this book?' It's not chess related - just a collection of logic puzzles, but I'd definitely recommend it.

I just gave away two copies of the book: Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: Raymond Smullyan.  Loved this one, chess mysteries. The problems were workable and fun. The answers are in the back of the book.

 And one copy of: Chess Mysteries of the Arabian Knights:Raymond Smullyan.  Same style as above. It was a little boring and harder because of the stories.

No. It's possible that the G pawn moved into the H file. Or something similar.

I don't remember the answer to this problem in the book. But any of the six pawn that moved could have promoted to a Black Bishop.

The white a, c, e and g pawns could have made a capture on the way to the eight rank and promoted to a black bishop.

Given the possibilities, then white made three pawn captures and black the same.

The f pawn could have made two captures and promoted to a black bishop.

Heck even the white h pawn could go straight to the eight rank if the black h pawn captured the g pawn.

No pawn ever reached the 8^th rank.

Am I  telling the truth or am I  lying?

            I THINK YOU ARE LYING.

I noticed that the 2 white bishops haven't moved, so it's impossible for the dark bishop to get out! But, if you haven't noticed, in the "givens" in the question, it never mentioned that THESE are the respective white and black sides.

What if, white moved to the black side and black moved to the white side? With the white and black pawns one move away from promoting ? Then, this renders the question unanswerable! 

Can someone please explain ?

Please be relevant, helpful & nice!

The clue dear Watson...is in the board notation. You are looking at the board from White's viewpoint.