Alberston - Chess mazes 2: the chess puzzle for everyone

The Chess Puzzle for Everyone byBruce Alberston 2008 Russell Enterprises, Inc. Milford, CT USA Chess Mazes 2 Copyright 2008 Bruce Alberston All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. ISBN: 978-1-888690-35-4 Published by: Russell Enterprises, Inc. PO Box 3131 Milford, CT 06460 USA http://www.russell-enterprises.com Cover design by Janel Lowrance Printed in the United States of America Special thanks to Fred Wilson who suggested the title and who has also composed some wicked mazes in his time. K stands for King Q stands for Queen R stands for Rook B stands for Bishop N stands for Knight P stands for Pawn, although in practice it is rarely used. - the dash means moves to x means captures / the slash indicates pawn promotion 0-0 means castles kingside 0-0-0 means castles queenside + stands for check # or mate stands for checkmate 1-0 means White wins 0-1 means Black wins - means tie game, a draw ! indicates a strong move !! indicates an excellent, brilliant move !? indicates an interesting, but unclear move ? is a bad or questionable move ?? is a serious blunder Chess Mazes is chess. - the dash means moves to x means captures / the slash indicates pawn promotion 0-0 means castles kingside 0-0-0 means castles queenside + stands for check # or mate stands for checkmate 1-0 means White wins 0-1 means Black wins - means tie game, a draw ! indicates a strong move !! indicates an excellent, brilliant move !? indicates an interesting, but unclear move ? is a bad or questionable move ?? is a serious blunder Chess Mazes is chess.

The pieces move and capture just the same as in the normal game. The big difference is that the alternation of moves rule has been suspended. That means only White gets to move and the only piece he can move is his maze piece. Poor Black never moves; he has to sit back and watch, a helpless spectator. As a chess teacher Ive tried various techniques to get my beginner students familiar with how the pieces move and capture. An exercise where there is only one moving piece on the board seemed to fill the bill.

Initially my main concern was moving the piece in the correct manner while staying off squares where the moving piece could be taken by the enemy. Later, as the youngsters developed their skills, I found I could extract some bonuses from the visualization and planning techniques already built into the mazes concept. The ideal planning situation is where one side gets to make a plan and carry it through without interference from the opponent. If we dont let the other side move it becomes possible to do this. The presentation of Chess Mazes, of necessity, has to be in the form of an exercise or puzzle. Theres no point in randomly moving pieces around the board.

There has to be a goal. And the goal of the maze is to check the enemy king. That at least conforms to normal chess; you want to get the king. So Chess Mazes also operates as a chess problem. To do Chess Mazes it is assumed you know how the pieces move and the difference between check and checkmate. As for chess notation, you can figure out how it works from the early examples given in the book.

So, without further ado lets get to the rules for Chess Mazes. There are five in all. Well take Bishop Mazes as the example. Rules for Bishop, Rook, and Knight MazesRule Number One You are White and your maze piece is the bishop. You can move the bishop around the board at will, or almost at will. The major restriction is Rule Number Four.

Only the white bishop is allowed to move. Rule Number Two Black gets a king and some pieces, the number of which will vary from position to position. However, none of the black pieces, king included, is allowed to move. This makes Black a passive partner, observing the bishop as it moves around the board. The one exception, where we allow Black to move, is Rule Number Four. Rule Number Three The maze is solved when the bishop puts the black king in check.

Just put the king in danger and youve got it. Sounds easy, doesnt it? Rule Number Four White may not put his bishop (maze piece) on a square where it can be captured by an enemy unit. Its called putting a piece en prise. If he does that, places his bishop on a capturable square, we suddenly let Black move, and he can take your bishop. Whites maze piece is gone from the board and he loses. You have to start over. Rule Number Five Go for the shortest solution.

If a maze can be solved in x number of moves and you solved it in say x plus one, well, you sort of solved it but not in the most efficient way. You wont find your solution given in the back of the book. Bishop Mazes in Action Now that weve covered the rules for mazes, lets see how it works in practice. We start with an example of a simple Bishop Maze: The white bishop to check the king in the shortest number of moves. It can be done in one move. 1.Ba7-b6+ But this doesnt count since it is violates Rule Four.

Black simply takes the bishop, 1...Ka5xb6. Losing your bishop doesnt solve the maze. It turns out that check can be given in two moves and in four different ways. (a) 1.Ba7-b8 and 2.Bb8-c7+ (b) 1.Ba7-d4 and 2.Bd4-c3+ (c) 1.Ba7-e3 and 2.Be3-d2+ (d) 1.Ba7-f2 and 2.Bf2-e1+ Of course the check can also be given in three moves (or more) but were only concerned with the solution that delivers check in the fastest way, Rule Five. Still, we dont want a maze with four correct solutions; its too easy. Adding the black knight creates a series of mined squares, which limit the bishops movement. Adding the black knight creates a series of mined squares, which limit the bishops movement.

Thus c7 is ruled out, since the knight can capture; so too are c3 and e3. That leaves only one correct solution 1.Ba7-f2 and 2.Bf2-e1+. If you took three moves to solve the maze, 1.Bf2 2.Bh4 3.Bd8+ youre on your own. In the back of the book we give only the solutions in the fewest number of moves. So get into the habit of solving in the shortest possible way. If enemy pieces stand in your way you can capture them, provided you dont lose your bishop in the process.

Our next example, showing a capture, is somewhat longer than those weve seen. A quick examination of the position shows that the only available check is at a2. How does the bishop get there? Via b1 after removing the rook at b7. Heres how it goes: 1.Be2 2.Bd1 3.Ba4 4.Bd7 5.Bc8 6.Bxb7 7.Be4 8.Bb1 9.Ba2+