Time to translate that old article with the help of Google Translator:Ajedrecista wrote: ↑Wed Mar 05, 2025 9:20 pm[...]
[...] Since I do not know Russian language and I am in a hurry, I can not translate the short article right now, which ends with a draw of a walking rook with legs and a chessboard under its arm.
[...]
Original transcription in Russian language. I hope no typos:«Шахматы» wrote:SESSION
Black and white magic
Untouchable king
[d]7k/5Q2/8/8/8/2K5/8/8 w - - 0 1
White starts and wins without moving the king
This study, known to N. D. Grigoriev, was proposed for solution by an electronic machine, and it reported that white really wins. Here is the main variation, in which White's plan is clearly visible:
1. Qf6+ Kh7 2. Qf8 Kg6 3. Qe7 Kh6 4. Qf7 Kg5 5. Qe6 Kh5 6. Qf6 Kg4 7. Qe5 Kh4 8. Qf5 Kg3 9. Qe4 Kh3 10. Qf4 Kg2 11. Qe3 Kh1! 12. Qe2 Kg1 13. Qe4! Kh2 14. Qf3 Kg1 15. Qh3 Kf2 16. Qg4 Ke3 17. Qf5 Ke2 18. Qf4 Ke1 19. Qd2+! Kf1 20. Qh2 Ke1 21. Qg2 Ke1 22. Qf1#.
The machine also established that for any initial position of the white queen and the black king, checkmate occurs no later than the 23rd move (the white king is on c3).
A. Brudno and I. Landau (Moscow)
There was a typo in the original source, which I wrote in red: the black's last move is Kd1, not Ke1. Here is the PGN of the proposed position with the typo corrected:«Шахматы» wrote:СЕАНС
Черно-белой магии
Неприкасаемый король
[d]7k/5Q2/8/8/8/2K5/8/8 w - - 0 1
Белые начинают н выигрыают, не делая ходов королем
Этот этюд, известный еще Н. Д. Григорьеву, был предложен для решениа электронной машнне, и она сообщила, что белые действительио выигрывают. Приведем главный вариант, в котором хорошо виден замысел белых:
1. Фf6+ Крh7 2. Фf8 Крg6 3. Фe7 Крh6 4. Фf7 Крg5 5. Фe6 Крh5 6. Фf6 Крg4 7. Фe5 Крh4 8. Фf5 Крg3 9. Фe4 Крh3 10. Фf4 Крg2 11. Фe3 Крh1! 12. Фe2 Крg1 13. Фe4! Крh2 14. Фf3 Крg1 15. Фh3 Крf2 16. Фg4 Крe3 17. Фf5 Крe2 18. Фf4 Крe1 19. Фd2+! Крf1 20. Фh2 Крe1 21. Фg2 Крe1 22. Фf1X.
Машина установила также, что при любом начальном положении белого ферзя и черного короля мат дается не позже 23-го хода (белый король находится на c3).
А. Брудно и И. Ландау (Москва)
[pgn][Event "Untouchable king"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1969.??.??"]
[White "Computer by A. Brudno and I. Landau"]
[Black "Computer by A. Brudno and I. Landau"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "7k/5Q2/8/8/8/2K5/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "43"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. Qf6+ Kh7 2. Qf8 Kg6 3. Qe7 Kh6 4. Qf7 Kg5 5. Qe6 Kh5 6. Qf6 Kg4 7. Qe5 Kh4 8. Qf5 Kg3 9. Qe4 Kh3 10. Qf4 Kg2 11. Qe3 Kh1! 12. Qe2 Kg1 13. Qe4! Kh2 14. Qf3 Kg1 15. Qh3 Kf2 16. Qg4 Ke3 17. Qf5 Ke2 18. Qf4 Ke1 19. Qd2+! Kf1 20. Qh2 Ke1 21. Qg2 Kd1 22. Qf1# 1-0[/pgn]
Other curiosity once I saw 'magic' in the title is that there is a draw of a black top hat —like a magician— with two arms and hands, one to each side, at the left of the draw holding a white pawn and the other holding a black pawn.
N. D. Grigoriev is mentioned as he knew the problem. Arves site has got an article about him, but I did not found anything more about his relation to the problem. Other source that I brought in my former message says that this problem was known by many players and that they wrongly thought that white could not force a checkmate.
A. Brudno is also mentioned as one of the solvers of the problem. It was probably in the context of the Brudno – Kronrod seminar (I. Landau is briefly mentioned at the Russian Wikipedia article about A. Brudno).
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A. Brudno is also listed as one of the early explorers of alpha-beta pruning, absolutely important in computer chess. A paper by him dated in 1962 was published in «Проблемы кибернетики» ('Problems of Cybernetics') in 1963:
https://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/P/''Proble ... )/_PK.html (Index page).
https://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/P/''Proble ... 1963).djvu [Issue 10 of «Проблемы кибернетики» (1963).]
The paper is at pages 141 to 150, in Russian language, of course. It has got ten figures and some formulas.
Regards from Spain.
Ajedrecista.
