Friday, May 11, 2007

Can you checkmate in 3 with the Archbishop?



The Archbishop moves like a Bishop or Knight on any turn. This unique piece is very powerful. With white to move, can you checkmate the black King in 3 moves from this position?

12 comments:

geography_teacher said...

I don't see how to do it. 1. Ad6+ and the king gets away to d8. So maybe 1. Kc6 like a waiting move and black still can play Kd8 and I don't see a mate in 2 more. Are you sure this is a mate in 3?

DuelingBishops said...

I see the mate! I'll let others try it first.

Smirf said...

There are two different mating combinations.

The Fitz Man said...

New to this Gothic Chess thing & I gots no clue how to do this checkmate! Answer it already I'm dying to know!

Sibahi said...

1. Ae6+ Kb8
2. Ad7+ Ka8
3. Ac6 mate.

GothicChessInventor said...

abdul-rahman has the first correct answer! Congratulations!

Most chess players miss the fact that the Archbishop can deliver checkmate unassisted, and the white King need not move to administer the mate. Well done.

LeanGurlSwimmer said...

I missed 1. Ae6+!!!! the winning move. Pretty clever problem.

Smirf said...

The second combination:
1. Ae6+ Kb8
2. Ka6 Ka8
3. Ac7#

DuelingBishops said...

This is one of my favorite checkmate problems. It is not too hard and it is also just challenging enough to give your brain a workout! Very cool.

blue oyster said...

Looks like Ae6 ...Ki8, Af7...Kj8
Ai6#

GothicChessInventor said...

i8 and j8 are on the extreme right side of the board. The mate is forced in the left-hand corner.

blueoyster said...

Sorry, my fault. When I "solved" the problem, I was using an 8x8 board that did not list co-ordinates.

When my set comes in (?), hopefully, that will not happen again.