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Famous Lasker Problem - EXTREMELY difficult!

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TPman

This was in one of Edward Laskers Chess Books.

 

White to move and mate in 3. Much harder than it seems.

 

P.S - check out the Taverner 1881 problem i posted yesterday - it's even more impressive (im amazed it hasnt had more comments)


e163026
yes thats beatiful
Deruku
Not too hard. Solved it on first try.
Chessroshi

i'm a little more sadistic. i like na2 more. it's a little longer, but black gets to see his death coming


pask
Once again we get a puzzle that depending on your point of view is either elegant, or unrealistic.  The notion of under promotion in this position is not going to occur to most players, nor should it when Nd3+ leads to mate in four after promoting to a queen.  Black clearly has no counter play, nor is there any realistic chance of stalemate.  In a game, Nd3+ is THE obvious move.  But the solution is lovely and appeals to our aesthetic sense.  Perhaps this is the difference between game play and puzzles?
topspin
What a spectacular puzzle.  It's true that puzzles that include pawns on the threshhold of advancement frequently hinge on promotion to a knight rather than a queen, but that doesn't detract from the cleverness of this puzzle.
TPman

I think there is, or at least should be, a clear distinction between chess problems and chess gameplay. It seems that we see very few problems for problems sake here, let alone puzzle-specific situations such as helpmates/reflexmates/selfmates.

 Although I agree that some problems are useful if not enjoyable when they mirror real-game situations, I don't see anything wrong with a problem purely for aesthetic/logical satisfaction


Rasputin727

I would definitely promote to Queen

 


dalmatinac
Very nice
chowdhuryanik

nice....

knightofcrashtest

good

Yereslov


How is this puzzle "good" or "nice"?

There are so many pointless moves.

This isn't the only way to mate.

Yereslov

You can also promote to rook. 

Does it really matter whether it's a knight?

idraz

it isnt useful

AndyClifton
pask wrote:
Perhaps this is the difference between game play and puzzles?

Hey yeah, I think you may be onto something there...

AndyClifton
Yereslov wrote:

You can also promote to rook. 

Does it really matter whether it's a knight?

If it's a mate in 3, yes, very much so.

Yereslov
AndyClifton wrote:
Yereslov wrote:

You can also promote to rook. 

Does it really matter whether it's a knight?

If it's a mate in 3, yes, very much so.

It does the same exact thing.

Oh, wait. Never mind.

Yereslov
pfren wrote:

Here comes a gorgeous one:

 

It's an old famous problem ( Jan Dobrusky Schachmatnoe Obozrenje 1901)- white to mate in 4 moves. The main line is truly very beautiful.

It would have been better as a puzzle.

Yereslov
pfren wrote:

Here comes a gorgeous one:

 

It's an old famous problem ( Jan Dobrusky Schachmatnoe Obozrenje 1901)- white to mate in 4 moves. The main line is truly very beautiful.

It's still not as great as the puzzle I posted.

Fayez

In a real chess game, the black king is unlikely to be put in such a position.