Solver's impressions 10


Scrapings 4 - May 2000

So I finally wrote the positions, the solutions and my comments to Scrapings 4 originals. I solved presented problems already in July and August (this time not in trains, but during travelling to center of Bratislava where I work and back home in city transport, mainly by trams). Chris Feather does great job and most of his helpmates shown here are at least interesting, mostly more than that...
Chris J. Feather
1 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

1.Kf8+ Kc3 2.Ba2 Rh2 3.Kg8 Rxa2 4.Kh8 Rxa8#

1.Re8 Rh1 2.Rh2 Kc4 3.Rhe2 Kd5 4.R2e7 Rf1#

Very nice long moves of white rook - it heads for capture of Ba2 in 1st and makes Bristol clearance in 2nd solution. Model mates, of course...









h#4 (2+8)
2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1

Chris J. Feather
2 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

1.Se6 Ka2 2.Sg5+ Rb3#
1.Re5 Ka1 2.Rg5+ Rc3#
1.Bh5 g5 2.hxg5 Rf3#
1.Qf5+ Kc1 2.Qg5+ Re3#

Four battery mates, three times white tempo move by king, once pg4 allows ph6 to enter g5 by capture. Firing move by wR always closes line.









h#2 (5+10)
4.1.1.1

Chris J. Feather
3 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

1.Qxb7 Qe2+ 2.Kd5 Rxd6#
1.Bxb8 Qxc6+ 2.Ke5 Qf6#

Captures of white bishops motivated by need to open Ra6 lines to d6 and f6 respectively.









h#2 (6+6)
2.1.1.1

Chris J. Feather
4 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

1.Ke6 e8R+ 2.Kf7 Re2 3.Kg8 Rxc2 4.Sf7 Re2 5.Bh7 Re8#

1.Ke4 e8Q+ 2.Kf3 Qg6 3.Kg2 Qxc2+ 4.Kh1 Qd3 5.Rh2 Qf1#

Excellent pair of solutions - two walks of bK to mating squares on different edges of the board, two differentiated white promotions, two line clearances by capture of pc2 and model mates.









h#5 (2+12)
2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1

Chris J. Feather
5 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

1.bxc1S Rb4 2.Sd3 Re4#
1.dxc1S Rxb2 2.Sd3 Rxc2#
1.Sxc1 Ra4 2.Sd3 Re4#

Square d3 is 3 times blocked by knights coming from c1 - but by three different knights. Funny idea, but mates aren't differentiated enough.









h#2 (5+7)
3.1.1.1

Chris J. Feather
6 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

a) 1.Qc7 Rxe3 2.Be4 Rg3 3.Qe5 Bxe5#

b) 1.Qe6 Bf4 2.Rd3 Be3 3.Qe5 Rxe5#

Pendulum Pelle moves by bQ allowing passage by white line piece, blocking and model mates in nice echo diagonal-orthogonal.









h#3 (5+7)
b) f4 -» e4

Chris J. Feather
7 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

1.Be7 fxe7 2.Sd5! (Sc6?, Sxd3?) Qd4#

1.Bg3 Qa8 2.Sxd3! (Sd5?, Sc6?) Qf3#

1.Bf4 Qh6 2.Sc6! (Sxd3?, Sd5?) Qxf4#

Strange composition. It took me some time to recognize the cyclical triple avoidance in play of Sb4 (as h# with 3 solutions and showing some cyclical theme it is in fact an example for 3rd TT Pat a Mat). The rest is not very unified. First moves by bishop are motivated in different ways - Be7 allows capture by pawn, Bg3 closes h3-f3 and Bf4 closes h6-e4.









h#2 (7+11)
3.1.1.1

Chris J. Feather
8 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

a) 1.Kf4 Ka2 (Kb1?) 2.Qg1 Bxg7 3.Qg4 Bc3 4.Be5 Bd2#

b) 1.Kd6 Kb1 (Ka2?) 2.Qc4 Bxg7 3.Kc5 Bh6 4.Bd4 Bf8#

Far echo mates - white bishop clears the way for his black colleague, while white king avoids entering the square where he would be checked by black queen during unpinng of his bishop.









h#4 (4+8)
b) g5 -» b4

Chris J. Feather
12 Scrapings 4 - May 2000

1.Sg5 d7 2.Kf3 d8Q 3.Sg2 Qxg5 4.d2+ Qxd2 5.Ke4 Qxg2 6.Kd3 Qf3#

Author says it is a puzzle and nothing more - but rather difficult puzzle for me. When I got it, I played a bit with position and found that position with pd6 moved to e6 has similar solution 1.Se1 e7 2.Kf3 e8Q 3.Sg2 Qxe1 4.d2+ Qxd2 5.Ke4 Qxg2 6.Kd3 Qf3#. Of course, as pawn promotes on light square, the tries with c3 clearance (that fooled me for a while in original position) are less intensive, on the other hand spectacular move Qe8-e1 is added.









h#6 (2+9)

Comments to Juraj Lörinc.
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