A Lloyd Compose Mate-in 3 from 1897

[MikeB]

[d]1n1N2R1/2K2B2/b7/2p2P2/1nPk3r/2N1R1p1/3PppQ1/b1B1rq2 w - - 0 1

very easy for Stockfish and most other engines , very hard for humans, it's been reported that GM's had difficulty find this mate-in-3.

Please do not spoil it - just pop it into your favorite ChessGUI to see the answer.

Source: ACM Vol# 1 - the magazine also include the downloadable games and positions in electronic chessbase and pgn format complete with annotations.

https://acmchess.com

I have no relationship with ACM except I had purchased volume #1.

[AdminX]

I'm still considering ordering it (ACM), what did you think of the 1st issue? If there was an electronic issue like 'New In Chess', I would have already ordered it. I prefer paperless now.

Thanks in Advance.

[Ras]

That's crazy! I would not have been able to come up with the solution. No wonder GMs miss that.

An interesting side aspect: the key move is the only solution, so this puzzle is waterproof. With so many pieces in such a chaotic position, it is amazing that the author was able to rule out double solutions manually, given the year 1897.

[whereagles]

Sam Lloyd was the best chess problemist ever

He was amazing, yes.

[Ajedrecista]

Hello Michael:

Great composition! Just to see the size of this problem, here are the values of perft and unique positions after five plies:

Code: Select all

Computed by JetChess 1.0.0.0:

perft(5)     = 73,458,834

positions(5) = 12,094,578

Yet another chess problem database lists the author as Isaak S. Loyd (not Lloyd).

I tried some similar ideas before seeing the solution, but I was far enough to solve it by myself.

Regards from Spain.

Ajedrecista.