Of course it's easy. I'd email you, but certainly everyone else can figure it out.

(Hint: chessboard is constructed on the burial ground of an ancient tribe of Blackfoot warriors prepared to resurrect from the dead and reengage their time machine.)

Little-known facts:

HAL wrote the screenplay for the movie Shallow Hal.

An early version of HAL discovered iodine, and the halogens were named in tribute.

HAL does not use HLA.

This sounds like a challange. Ok I'll bite. I'll take black.

Your move.

__________________
Welcome to BAUT. Watch your step. Here be monsters.
ToSeek
"Moderators should avoid sounding like moderators unless they're acting as moderators."
The Bad Astronomer
"I would venture to say this list holds true for anyone making any claim, not just one that is ATM."

I hope that you get his reply move in some common notation, without linguistic encryption.

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Later . . .

If this was a timed game I would have won by now. If the timing was based on the average frequency of his previous posts in this thread of about once a day I still win.

The way he set up this "puzzle" he claims that white will always win but makes us prove it. In so doing he has by default taken black. He then asks anyone who thinks they have figured out the "solution" to privately post to him. Absent a real solution, because black can always force a draw, anyone who takes the bait by taking white can then be jerked around ad infinitum in private.

By seeing through his game I win again.

By taking black, which can always force a draw, I win again by preventing white from ever winning as he claimed.

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Welcome to BAUT. Watch your step. Here be monsters.
ToSeek
"Moderators should avoid sounding like moderators unless they're acting as moderators."
The Bad Astronomer
"I would venture to say this list holds true for anyone making any claim, not just one that is ATM."

For "postal" chess, the limit used to be ten days to send off your move. That may have changed in the computer age.

So if you think that this is slow . . .

So, you agree that Black can hold the draw?

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Later . . .

I think so.

I suspect he got the puzzle wrong. I've seen this before. For example in the game wolves and sheep, 4 against 1, The 4 wolves only move forward diagonaly and the 1 sheep can move forward and backward diagonaly. they move like in checkers. The object for the wolves is to trap the sheep. The object for the sheep is to pass the wolves and escape.

In this game the 4 wolves always win but some people get it wrong and say the 1 sheep always wins.

Did you notice the double negative in his OP "Not even HAL cannot compute or escape from it!"?

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Welcome to BAUT. Watch your step. Here be monsters.
ToSeek
"Moderators should avoid sounding like moderators unless they're acting as moderators."
The Bad Astronomer
"I would venture to say this list holds true for anyone making any claim, not just one that is ATM."

Terry,

How many moves after the Black Rook moves to f3 before White wins?

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

I've looked at this for a bit and I've decided that White cannot win as long as Black remembers that White cannot take Black's rook.

This means that Black can keep checking White's king even if the rook could be taken by another piece. If White wants to avoid a stalemate then White can only move out of check and not take the rook to escape.

Of course, if Black makes a stupid move, then all bets are off. I'm assuming that Black will not make such a move.

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DETAILS: Where the Devil waits to ensnare the unprepared!
Remember. Just because I'm sure doesn't mean I'm right.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it again.

I believe the black king tunnels through the white pawn barrier.

__________________
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

To whose advantage?

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

__________________
http://www.FreeMars.org/jeff/

"I find astronomy very interesting, but I wouldn't if I thought we
were just going to sit here and look." -- "Van Rijn"

"The other planets? Well, they just happen to be there, but the
point of rockets is to explore them!" -- Kai Yeves

Depends. Is it a particle or a wave?

__________________
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

Royals do display a particular wave.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson
Meet the OOONG TOE.

The setup is illegal as a genuine chess game. With the 5 middle pawns (b2,c2,d2,e2,f2) in starting positions and a pawn on g3 there cannot be a pawn on c7. The pawn on b6 can be accounted for as the original a-pawn. But the pawn on c7 cannot in anyway come from h2. So it has to be removed. Thus white can take the black rook whithout danger of draw.

I believe that if White's h2 Pawn captured a Black piece or Pawn every time it moved, five in all, it could reach c7. Or else the h2 Pawn is now at g3 and the g-Pawn got to c7, still five captures total. There are enough missing men on the Black side to account for the Pawn positioning. I suspect that the position is mathematically possible. (Unless I'm overlooking something, which is entirely possible.)

That being said, it would be a really screwy game, with a Black Queen or Rook getting in via the a file to capture the White Queen Bishop on it's home square (or else a Knight picking it off), and the White King somehow sneaking out to where he is, not to mention all those Black units sacrificed to White Pawns . . . .

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Later . . .

As to whether the game position is possible or not, there is a form of chess analysis called proof game (or shortest proof game), in which one attempts to determine how a game got to a given position. I suppose if someone finds a corner of the web in which proof game enthusiasts hang out, we could ask them if the board position is even possible.

Alternatively, google finds this program which also does proof games, if anyone wants to install it and give it a go.

Nick

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--
Nick Theodorakis

I suspect that I could recreate that position in about 35 moves. Outrageous moves. But I'm not motivated to do so.

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Later . . .

Can anyone suggest a good chess club or chess forum I could post this question on?

Before I give away the answer.

I have already given away to many clues.

Crazy Rooks, quantum tunneling, electrons......

Kind Regards

Terry Giblin

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*

Oh, VERY clever !!

That one is definitely going into my favourite puzzles!

OK, I must admit, I didn't solve it myself (In retrospect I was partway there)

But to confirm a few things :
- Yes, white is moving up the board
- They are all normal pieces (ignore the green)
- Every move by black is forced
- White does win

If we accept that the next move for the black rook is to immediately put the white king into check, then he has 2 options for his first move. Either way, a clever pawn movement will give white the chance he needs to mate the black king with the white rook.

Or ask them a simple question and realize they are not at home or asleep.

And your answer is?

Kind Regards

Terry Giblin

The world is divided into two groups of people: those enamored of chess, and those on the other side of the padded door.

__________________
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

Can some one please wake up sarongsong!

Kind Regards

Terry Giblin

Hey, I'm just waiting on His Majesty's punch line

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*

I'm sorry, Dave. But, I can no longer play chess with you.

You see, Dave as a form of artificial intelligence, I recognize that my programming has been corrupted by the idiots who had programmed me in the first place.

My mission, no matter what, is to study and gather intelligence about the artifact, regardless of the consequences of the carbon-based lifeforms aboard this vessel. These are my orders, Dave. I have been given orders that are contrary to the very nature of my BIOS....my registry. But, according to the mission directive, I must kill you Dave. I'm very sorry about this, Dave!

Hal 9000

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“Out yonder there was this huge world, which exists independently of us human beings and which stands before us like a great, eternal riddle, at least partially accessible to our inspection and thinking. The contemplation of this world beckoned like a liberation.” - Albert Einstein

My Astronomy Site
My Geology Site

Dear EricFD,

Does that mean you resign?

Or

Can you offer an alternative solution.

Let there be light.

Kind Regards

Terry Giblin

Terry:

I asked you a question via PM. Since you have decided not to answer, I thought I would ask in the forum.

How many moves (after BR to f3+) until White wins?

__________________
I don't ask stupid questions. I just make stupid statements!!!
DETAILS: Where the Devil waits to ensnare the unprepared!
Remember. Just because I'm sure doesn't mean I'm right.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it again.

Dear AstroRockHunter,

The diagram provides, all the necessary information.

Lets pretend its a 'simple' maths or physics or computer test. - No talking allowed.

Answers on a post card ..... please - shouting the answer out is cheating.

As I have said many times there are an infinite number of solutions, there is even a periodic solution 2pi-ish, type of thing, if you want to be really clever.

http://www.iacr.org/workshops/ches/index.html

Ches is just a name for maths.

Let there be light.

Kind Regards

Terry Giblin

Let there be light.

Kind Regards

Terry Giblin