Thursday 23 December 2010

A puzzle for arbiters


Courtesy of Stewart Reuben comes the following puzzle. According to the FIDE Laws of Chess, what was the last move in this game?
Now as it is a puzzle for abiters, and an arbiter should always have the rule book handy, I'll point you in the right direction. Rule 9.6 of the current Laws of Chess is your friend.

6 comments:

HeinzK said...

I think it's courtesy of Buchanan

http://anselan.com/

Shaun Press said...

Thanks for the link. The problem was shown to me by Stewart Reuben at the last Olympiad (hence the attribution). I wasn't aware it had a prior source (note: Stewart didn't claim it as his own).

HeinzK said...

I'm not sure whether or not you set up the position correctly. The Buchanan example is with the black king on a8, not a1 (whichs throws in white promotion tricks). I think white made the last move here: taking a Queen or Rook on c3... but these dead reckoning reasonings are quite a bit over my head

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Anonymous said...

I don't think you can determine the last move. Just which player moved last. It must have been White king capturing rook, queen or pawn on c3. Promotion isn't a concern.