Unusual and Challenging Chess Problems

The expression "chess puzzle" is bandied about both on Chess.com and in modern chess literature as a catch-all for everything from combinations taken from actual games and composed combinations to endgame studies and problems.  This lack of specificity is neither good for a player new to these various aesthetic disciplines nor for the experienced player interested in the long and storied history of the game.

Personally, I think a genuine puzzle should use the rules of chess but have a specific stipulation as the one I'm about to present.  This puzzle originally saw the light of day in The Chess Player's Chronicle, New Series, 1856 and was composed by a fellow with the nom de plume, Mr. Riddle of Alabama.

The stipulation of this puzzle is "White to play, and mate with the K. Kt. Pawn (g-pawn) in eight moves, without taking any of the Black Pawns."  I found it unique and challenging, and I hope you do as well.

Oh, and for those who say White can mate sooner or ask what does this teach about practical play, I would answer respectively "So what" and "Very little," but that's what makes it a puzzle ... or should that be a riddle?

Well I got 5 of the 8 moves correct.  The three moves I got wrong all took several tries.

Getting 5 out of 8, I guess that's pretty good.

To quote Charlie Brown from It's the Great Pumpkin...;  "I got a rock".

I think you did better than I did, Bryan.  Good show.

HaHaHa!  You cracked me up with that, John ... seriously.

Don't feel bad, I didn't get it either.  I knew there had to be two successive pins, but I couldn't see how.  In other words, I knew the g3 pawn had to be released while the king was held in place behind a wall of pawns by the only piece capable of doing so without it being captured in previous moves.  Unfortunately, I missed the only square for the queen on the first move, and thus her subsequent path. Obviously my retrograde analysis was retrograde.

This is not a very good mate in 8 puzzle after the mate in 1...Rh1#. 

Way to totally miss what his post was saying.

Very difficult puzzle , although I did not give it much time before clicking through the hints as I could not really figure out the correct moves so that the only way for the king was to move forward.

Yeah. I had to use 6 hints in this puzzle even though there was mate in 1.

You apparently didn't read my introduction.  This is a true puzzle with a unique stipulation.  These were common in the 1850s in Staunton's Chess Player's Chronicle.

Frankly, if you didn't like this one you are sure to loathe the next one I post.  

By the way Bob, is this problem cooked because white's first two moves can be interchanged without affecting black's moves?  Or are compositions such as this with unusual stipulations not subject to the "cook rule?"

That's a really good question, Bryan.  I have to assume that 8 moves, the forbidden capture of the Black pawns, and mate with the g2-pawn are what counts, but I can't say with any certainty this isn't cooked.  Only Mr. Riddle could tell us since this is a unique puzzle, but no doubt the freedom to switch moves one and two takes away from the solution.  The only way to prevent this is to place the queen on c5 and the bishop on b4, but that makes the solution a bit easier.

As I go through The Chess Player's Chronicles I'll keep a look out for more puzzles of this nature to see if they have interchangeable moves.  In the meantime, as I solve the traditional mate-in-3 and mate-in-4 problems in The Chess Player's Chronicles, I found one mate-in-4 that could be solved with two different second moves.  It wasn't caught, but that is definitely a cook even in 1856.

This isn't a puzzle at all. In puzzles you have to find the best move. If the aim of this puzzle was to get the most convoluted mate possible, it would be almost impossible to solve. From the starting position of the puzzle, there are tons of different ways we can get a mate from that position. How are we meant to know which way the author intends, if not the quickest?

I did read your intro, as a matter of fact. I just didn't understand the point of the puzzle, as you will notice from my above comment. 

I mean, think about it. How many different ways could you solve the puzzle, and if you didn't have a set guideline to solve it, such as 'the fastest possible mate,' how would you know which one of the countless solutions was the answer you were looking for?

 You mean like this?

And to me, assuming I hadn't seen the original setup I wouldn't find this setup any easier.  As a matter of fact both setups would be impossible for me to solve completely correctly.

This puzzle is a good way to practice a slow buildup without any counter chances by the opponent.  Definitely not practical, but could be of some value perhaps.

This puzzle with a unique stipulation, albeit not nearly as difficult as the one posted in this forum, was posted the other day in the forum:  https://www.chess.com/forum/view/more-puzzles/daily-puzzle-submissions-be-involved

https://youtu.be/UIyGzFkyEcc

check out this puzzle

It's a valuable endgame trick to know, but this puzzle is misplaced in this forum.