January 17, 2005
Chess Dad
OK, for all you chess buffs. You're White and all black has to do win is to promote a pawn. What do you do? (Assume that White is slightly below average player.)
| -- | WR | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | BP | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | -- | BP | BR | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | WP | -- | WK |
| -- | BK | -- | -- | -- | BP | WP | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | BP | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
(Pardon all the whitespace; I don't understand why I'm getting all this padding.)
In this position, my nearly 11 year old was White. Earlier in the game I had carelessly lost my queen but shrewdly forced a couple of trades on my son that got me back into the game. I thought I had him but he made a clever move here. I immediately took the bait. And he had his stalemate. (Answer below)
White Rook takes Black Pawn.
I responded Black Pawn takes White Rook.
And he said stalemate.
I was quite impressed.