"This puzzle is brilliant," writes Patrick - and I agree so much I'm posting this position from Koskinen-Kasman, Helsinki 1967, here too. And having checked the answer with Spike - which bulldozed its way to the answer in under a second - I will phrase it like this:
Black to play and mate in four.
The position also reminded me of this discussion. Do we really solve such things for our betterment, so our play becomes closer and closer to that of the brutal, soulless machine? (Or do you think I am posting it here instead for something like beauty's sake?)
How did the king get there?
ReplyDeleteNo idea - but presumably blacks deficit of two minor pieces has something to do with it . . .
ReplyDeleteI did check for the game on my chessbase database thingybase, but couldn't find it. Google & chessgames.com no help either. It'd be good to know what game resulted in such a great finish.
I presume this was not a composed game then?
ReplyDeleteWithout the source game there is no way to know for sure - it doesn't seem impossible - on the other hand the position contains apparently a 'dual' in that Spike reckons 1... Bxe4 wins too - so as composition it'd be an unskilled one.
ReplyDeleteAlas, a member of the Finnish Chess Federation answered my enquiry about this position like this:
ReplyDeleteDear Tom,
As far as I know the game was not really played. A similar position appeared in a 5-minutes game and this position was composed from that.
This has been asked many times before and this is the best answer I can give. Please notice that the names are Koskinen and Kasanen. They bpth have already died so that we cannot ask them.
Best regards
Esko Nuutilainen