Friday puzzle -- Chess

Ask Richard Burton

In one film, he played a friend of Alice. That character played a key role in this end-game too.

In another film he said: "To 'B' or not to 'B'". That is the bonus question.

;-)

The movie allusions went right over my head, but still make it clear that you have the answer.

The films

Actually not 'movies' in the normal sense. Both are filmed recordings of broadway productions:

Alice in Wonderland, 1982 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083536/

Hamlet, 1964 - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058175/

Alternative solution

Black King move from row 7 to row 8

White Bishop was a pawn pushed forward and inexplicably promoted to a Bishop by someone who didn't know how to play chess.

:-)

Yes, that's the alternative solution if white is at the top (Bill's allusion to "to B or not to B"). And you are also right that it is not a move that anyone knowing chess would make. This puzzle is about LEGAL moves only, not good strategic moves.

Now, what if White's side is the bottom of the board?

Chess Solution

Bill got this and the extra credit pretty quickly, and Steve gave a good explanation of the extra credit alternative solution.

The primary solution starts the same way Steve did: the only place black could have moved from is the space directly below where he ended up (any other place would have put the kings on adjacent squares, an impossibility).

At that point, black is in check from the Bishop on the bottom row. How did white put him in check? The bishop could not have been promoted as in the alternative, since he is on white's home side. And the only places he could have moved FROM would be on the same diagonal, where black was already in check. None of the white pieces on the board could have been moved to their current position from the bishop's diagonal revealing the check. The only possibility is that a white knight was moved to reveal the check, and then was captured by the black king.

Below is what the board looked like two moves ago.

This puzzle was the cover illustration of the edition I have of Smullyan's The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes.

This didn't garner a lot of attention, but if I run out of material some Friday, I might post another of these, so keep an eye out, Bill and Steve!