Feb 13, 2024
Puzzler time.
This one is not automotive in nature. This is a chess puzzler. Gotta throw in some variety now and again.
Okay, here we go.
So, you have a chess board. Imagine it is in front of you.
In the bottom left-hand corner, closest to your left side, there is a white rook.
Two squares to the right of the rook, place a white bishop.
Then two squares to the right of the bishop, place the white king.
Okay, now go back to the rook in the left corner, the first piece. Go two squares up from that and place the black king.
Okay, so to recap, you have a white rook in the left corner nearest you, then two squares to the right, you have the white bishop, and then two squares to the right, the white king, and then two squares up from the rook, you have the black king.
So, obviously, the black king is in some trouble, if the pieces are placed like this.
So, the last player to move is white.
And the puzzler question is, what was his move?
If you look at the board this way, the black king is in check by the rook and by the bishop. So the black king is in check from two different pieces, so how did that happen? What was the last move made by the player of the white pieces?
Answer time.
So, what was the player's last move with the white pieces that got the black king in check by two other pieces?
Both the rook and the bishop have the black king in check. So what is was the last move to get them in this position by the player of the white pieces?
And here is the answer. This one was tricky.
So, the way I said it, with the white pieces closest to the bottom, you would think that meant that you were the player of the white pieces. Since they are all lined up there.
But you would be wrong. In this scenario, you are actually the player of the black pieces. And the white pieces have marched all the way down the board to the other side, right in front of you.
And the piece that is now the white rook, it had just been a pawn, and the move we were looking for is that pawn became a rook when it reached the end of the board, and therefore, the black king is now in check in two places.
