En passant problems

[Alexander George]

The New York Times chess blog asks readers to submit great problems involving en passant capture. See here for details:

http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06 ... n-passant/

[Siegfried Hornecker]

I don't find the comment function on the famous NYT, but this one is a great puzzle:


Werner Keym
Allgemeine Zeitung, Mainz 1963
Mate in 3

You would not even consider the en passant key if the author's name wouldn't be well known for it today...

[Alexander George]

I don't find the comment function on the famous NYT, ...

If you scroll down the page, you'll find the comments. Anyone can read the comments; you need to log in (registration is free) in order to post any.

[Z Kornin]

My own example , not in the "simplicity above all in the world" category (and on purpose btw) presents en passant and castles chained, with the presence of a promoted unit in one of the twins in order to allow e.p. capture , and the absence of this feature in the other twin. The condition "Forced Castling" was added on demand of the editor, my own view on this matter was a bit different, because I believed that the solver should conclude for the necessity of the castling feature after the en passant key in order to find the only way to perform the simple #2 enunciate ... for me, the condition added would in some spoil the intended 'simplicity in enunciate' , but we were in 2001, not in 1860 ...

http://www.janko.at/Retros/Schwalbe/N192.htm

[Z Kornin]

Zalmen Kornin
Die Schwalbe, Heft 192, 2001
13+14. (Forced castling) Mate in 2 moves a) diagram b) -bQb1

"Forced castling": If castling is legal, it must be played.

(The stipulation as published in the magazine, translated to english)


***** OR ***** it could work as well as just

#2 (a) diagram; (b) without the Qb1

Solution: (when the point in my reazoning becomes clear) : in one of the tries, Black is already, say - practically - forced to castle, otherwise the Try would not be refuted, it would be a second solution itself! - So, if Black castled in the TRY (therefore turning the move to a VIRTUAL possibility) - Why he would not be able to castle also in the actual solution and in every other propicious moment without the introduction of a FORCED condition ?!

...a detailed solution coming soon ... (edited August 4th 2010) ...


... Well, in the end, I came to know that very few solvers were able to send the correct solution, so it was very pleasant for me anyway

[Caveney]

This is by far the best en passant chess problem I have ever seen. It is a mate in 6 by Lazard and it can be found in Irving Chernev's The Fireside Book of Chess:



Solution: 1.b4 (Threatening 2.Nc7#) cxb3 e.p. 2.c4+ dxc3 e.p. 3.d4 exd3 e.p. 4.e4+ fxe3 e.p. 5.f4 (Threatening 6.Ne7#) gxf3 e.p. 6.Rg5#

Geoffrey Caveney

[garykevinware]

That problem by Lazard, was on the White Christmas post of my Gary's Gems,
http://www.chessproblem.net/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=359, and I posted a couple more 'en passant' problems, under In Passing, http://www.chessproblem.net/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=413.