transfer

  
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Last problem posted :


Svante Carl von Erichsen    (2008-08-05 00:49:28)
transfer

The white b pawn can't be the original a pawn, because then a2 or b3 would have been blocked all the time and the new black bishop could not have gone where he is now. Also, as Normajean already noted, the b pawn can only have moved after the bishop was already made.

So, the black e pawn needs to have captured his way all the way to the a file and then to b1 and finally back out. What were these captures? The first two are easy - two white Knights. Then, the white a pawn can have been moved one to the right through a capture, and finally, the a white a rook can have been captured to get the black pawn to the a file. However, now there is no piece left to be captured for the black pawn to get to b1!

There is only one solution: the white bishop must have got out there without a pawn before him moving. That way, the queen and another rook would be available for capturing. The only way for him to get out there is to be captured. This means that the current white bishop at c1 is a promoted pawn.

Conclusion: the black e pawn captured: 2 white Knights, two white Rooks, and the white Queen to get to b1 and back out before the white b pawn ever moved. Before that, a black Knight captured both white Bishops. The white a pawn afterwards promoted to bishop and finally went to the original bishop's square.

Now, where did the white pawn promote? There are only two squares available, b8 and d8. To reach d8, the pawn would have needed 5 captures, but only 4 black pieces are missing in action (promotion never adds pieces). So, it promoted at b8, and there is only one way out of there without disturbing the black pawns: Ba7.




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