Chess Puzzle #17607

CHESS PUZZLE, FEN 8/8/5B1p/3K4/1p4pP/1p1BP1R1/pn1pp1p1/k1brrbR1 w - -

Added by:	fikzter
Added on:	21-Nov-09
Description:
Difficulty:	chess puzzle 8/8/5B1p/3K4/1p4pP/1p1BP1R1/pn1pp1p1/k1brrbR1 w - -
Attempts:	468
Solved:	16 (3%)


White to move, mate in 21

Comments: (4) » Last

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donnaclara
08-Sep-15, 02:07

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Say one thing about this puzzle - Say it is hard to see...

From the arrangement of the bishops and black's king stuck in the corner, you would expect some sort of staircase process. But what kind? Where is the mate?
As I have said before with these long mates you must start at the end and work backwards
* Imagine Bd3 relocated further back and bPb4 removed .Then after move Rc3 there will be a mate next with a double check Rxc1#.
* To get to c3 the rook can use the route Rg3-g4-xb4-c4-c3. However possible stalemates makes this journey somewhat more interesting.
* But before the rook can start his trek the pawns on g4 and inevitably on h5 must be removed.
This is a royal work and you must build the staircase for his majesty first.

Now just reverse these steps and you have solution . It is a pleasure to see how carefully his majesty moves on staircase. Softly, softly...

donfery
08-Sep-15, 03:41

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Fabulous

Got some hint from Prof. and could solve it with only one mistake. Basically black pieces are all static beside the King and couple of pawns who will be taken care if by wK and rook. It is worth to notice that the white Bishop is moving to the remotest square in order to give full room to his King to execute his plan of annihilating the ennemy's pawns.
Excellent puzzle deserving five full stars.

divinityinfinity
08-Sep-15, 11:19

Comment deleted on 21-Apr-16, 03:55

snailmate
30-Jun-25, 09:03

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I got the first move almost instantaneously.
Getting the right follow-up moves however was not so easy, and I'm sure I made more than the requisite maximum of four wrong moves. By about move 11 I could see that the R on g3 was going to be giving the final mate, but it was still very tricky to work out the right sequence of moves to avoid stalemate. The P on e3 turned out to be a red herring. I thought at first that it was going to end up promoting, but that's impossible because of White's need to keep blocking and unblocking the B. I guess the e3 P is there to prevent the R from directly attacking b3, forcing it to work around to it by a devious route.

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