Trials of a woodpusher: Adventures in chess, backyard gardening, and maybe whisker chopping

[woodpusher]

It's not a mate-in-1, more like a mate in 15 or 20 moves. It's the concept of cutting down the triangle that the B-K is trapped in bit by bit.

 

[Spider]

Oh, you made it sound like one move would do it. I thought you actually wanted us to guess the move. I’ve forgotten how chess works. Played less than 10 times in my life.

 

[woodpusher]

Then you did well enough, KJ, to at least guess a legal move.

 

[GearNoir]

I think the goal is to force them back into the H1 corner? Starting with bishop to F5?

 

[woodpusher]

Getting black locked into the H1 corner with him only able to shuffle between either h1+h2 or g1+h1 is the key.
Right now, the N+B covered squares form a nice wall. To make progress, get the white K to d2, the get the B on the d1-h5 diagonal and the N to f5 to cover the e3+g3+h4 squares, basically moving the wall "forward." Wash-rinse-repeat.

 

[Dave in KY]

Oh, you made it sound like one move would do it.

That's what I thought........too much like bingo lately.......

 

[DocHoliday0831]

Dude I really need to play more chess my first move on that scenario would be Knight to g5

 

[Somnos]

I may or may not have done this, and it may or may not have worked....just saying.

If you can work it...work it...don’t hate the playa...

 

[Dave in KY]

Getting black locked into the H1 corner with him only able to shuffle between either h1+h2 or g1+h1 is the key.
Right now, the N+B covered squares form a nice wall. To make progress, get the white K to d2, the get the B on the d1-h5 diagonal and the N to f5 to cover the e3+g3+h4 squares, basically moving the wall "forward." Wash-rinse-repeat.
View attachment 4793

So as I said King to d3 would move him that direction........leaving him 2 moves. Then B to h5 and so on

 

[Somnos]

Congrats Sam I hope it goes well for you!

 

[woodpusher]

So as I said King to d3 would move him that direction........leaving him 2 moves. Then B to h5 and so on

Alas, with the blank K on e3, Kd3 by white is illegal.

 

[Dave in KY]

Alas, with the blank K on e3, Kd3 by white is illegal.

Guess I don't know all the rules. Figured the B had it guarded. Curious, why illegal?

 

[GearNoir]

Guess I don't know all the rules. Figured the B had it guarded. Curious, why illegal?

You can’t put your king into a position where it can be taken. Kings can move/take one square in any direction per turn.

 

[woodpusher]

A king attacks all its immediate 8 surrounding squares, so the black K is attacking d2,e2,f2,e3,f3,d4,e4,f4 (even if it cannot move into those squares). Since you can never move your K into a square which is being attacked by the opponent, the white K cannot move to d2 or d3 at present.

 

[Dave in KY]

Thanks for the explanation, I'll stick with checkers

 

[dangerousdon]

See...my solution is much more simple..."Send in the Clowns?"

 

[Spider]

Thanks for the explanation, I'll stick with checkers

I like playing checkers, but with chess pieces! From afar, it makes it look like you’re playing an intelligent game....

 

[woodpusher]

Starting from here....


typical play would proceed.
81. Kd1 Kf2 82. Kd2 Kf3 83.Kd3 Kf2 84. Bh5 (cutting down the triangle of squares available to the black K) Kg3
85. Ke3 Kh4 (why not? LOL) 86. Be2 Kg3 87. Nc5 Kh4 (trying to get out) 88. Ne4 Nope!

We have gone from this "wall"...


to this one, cutting down the corner space available to black.

Black is getting squeezed bit by bit and the next step is to lock the black K down to either H1+h2 or g1+g2.


In other news, I received a call this morning with a job offer from the company I interviewed with last week. Pay is higher than I expected for the entry-level position, but I suppose that they either liked what they saw in terms of potential or the other 100+ jobs I looked at were scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for "el cheapo" workers. In any event, I am super happy to soon be working again (Honestly, NEVER thought I would say that again!) and double-so that it is only a 10 minute drive away from home. Woohoo!

 

[cmh737]

 

[Majorrich]

Hooray on rebooting the career path! All the success in the world to you Sam!