A solution of this retro problem I've made. Check it
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A forgotten retro problem of Captain Evans (1871)
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I don't know if there's a point. And my instant reaction was, too, to try to checkmate directly
... but It's fun in a way! For ones that like them! I've just discovered it and haven't seen it in other bios of C. Evans, so decided to share it...
Hmm. To achieve that pawn structure, white must have made 9 captures. But black has 8 units on the board. 9+8=17; the position is illegal.
BigDoggProblem wrote:
Hmm. To achieve that pawn structure, white must have made 9 captures. But black has 8 units on the board. 9+8=17; the position is illegal.
Hadn't checked it at all! You're probably right! But were there these restrictions in 1871, on this kind of problems?? Just asking... I surely don't know
introuble2 wrote:
BigDoggProblem wrote:
Hmm. To achieve that pawn structure, white must have made 9 captures. But black has 8 units on the board. 9+8=17; the position is illegal.
Hadn't checked it at all! You're probably right! But were there these restrictions in 1871, on this kind of problems?? Just asking... I surely don't know
Probably not. I don't think the author cared. The only reason I checked this thread was the word "retro" in the title which usually indicates retrograde analysis type puzzles. In those, legality is always considered. Much of the solving logic is based on the assumption that the given position is legal.
Oh... maybe I was a "little" mistaken!! I used the term cause "retro" indicates usually something older and this kind of problems [with these stipulations eg. mate in specific number of moves, more than the quicker, etc] were represented many years ago. I know that retro usually is used to determine legal or illegal positions, previous moves.... maybe I'm mistaken on the title
introuble2 wrote:
Oh... maybe I was a "little" mistaken!! I used the term cause "retro" indicates usually something older and this kind of problems [with these stipulations eg. mate in specific number of moves, more than the quicker, etc] were represented many years ago. I know that retro usually is used to determine legal or illegal positions, previous moves.... maybe I'm mistaken on the title
No mistake...a word can mean more than one thing. Outside the chess problem world, "retro" usually means "old".
Gathering material for my recent blog on Captain Evans and his gambit, I've discovered a forgotten retro problem of his, published a year before he died, in Gentleman's journal, 1871, p. 400, without given solution...
Problem's stipulations:
"White to move and mate the King at the square he now occupies with a Rook on the Knight's file, without capturing the adversary's Kt's Pawn or permitting the Black to take either of the White Pawns."
I can tell that description is a little tricky...
I've made a previous fake black's move, so to construct the pgn and let you try the problem on chess.com analysis board. Isn't this hard I think...
Captain Evans in Deutshce ShachZeitung 1873, p. 1