« Goals for 2006 - blitz games | Home | Goals for 2006 - tactics, etc. »

Unexpected chess problem at my office

By Steve | January 1, 2006

A software developer on my team at work has an Escher print in her office. It’s a long strip, maybe 12 feet, and it’s hanging up where the wall meets the ceiling. Along the strip is a series of geometric motifs, one merging into the next as you follow along.

She’s had this print up in her office for years, so I have no idea why I never realized that one of the motifs is a chess board. I finally looked at it closely and discovered that a real position was set up on the board. As it turns out, the position is the middle of a tactics problem.

Click on the thumbnail below to take a look. White is in check. After White moves, it’s Black to mate in 1.

3 Responses to “Unexpected chess problem at my office”

  1. Gavin Williams Says:
    January 5th, 2006 at 9:57 am

    isn’t that an epaulette mate?

  2. Steve Says:
    January 5th, 2006 at 2:33 pm

    An epaulette mate, if I recall correctly, is a situation like Black king on e8, Black rooks on d8 and f8, and White queen on e6. Black’s rooks are said to be like epaulettes on the shoulders of Black’s king.

    Dan Heisman tells me that the mate in the picture is called Philidor’s Legacy.

  3. Gavin Williams Says:
    January 5th, 2006 at 5:11 pm

    sorry.

    remembering wrongly, but still would have called it a smothered mate

    oh well