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After finishing the mating move in the second game, Li Chai looked at the mandarin and asked:

What do you say now?

second game

1. d4 d5 2. e4 e5 3. dxe5 dxe4 4. Bg5 Bg4 5. Qxd8#

Kao Tse answered:

It's not much of an achievement if you take my mating piece. After all you started the game and you have an advantage.

Li Chai stayed calm again and started the final game.

How did Li Chai win the third and final game?

The rules (same as in part 1):

  • standard chess rules apply, if not stated otherwise
  • you play white and your opponent copies all your moves (e.g 1. e4 would be followed by 1. ... e5)
  • you are allowed to make "stupid" moves, your opponent will copy all moves regardless how bad they are
  • you are not allowed to make moves which cannot be copied, of course except for the last move winning the game

New rule:

  • make it impossible for the mandarin to repeat the mating move, but without taking the corresponding black mating piece
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4
  • $\begingroup$ So you can take a black piece on your last move, you just can't take the piece your opponent is supposed to use to copy your last move? $\endgroup$
    – klm123
    Commented Apr 9, 2016 at 13:08
  • $\begingroup$ @klm123 Exactly. $\endgroup$
    – Sleafar
    Commented Apr 9, 2016 at 13:09
  • $\begingroup$ This could probably also be posted on the Chess Stack Exchange. $\endgroup$
    – Mr Pie
    Commented Jul 2, 2018 at 3:17
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @user477343 AFAIK posting the same question on different SE sites isn't considered a good practice. $\endgroup$
    – Sleafar
    Commented Jul 2, 2018 at 4:21

4 Answers 4

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19
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The final position:
enter image description here
The moves:
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. Nd4 Nd5 3. Nc6 Nc3 4. dxc3 dxc6 5. h4 h5 6. Rh3 Rh6 7. e4 e5 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. Kd2 Kd7 10. Re3 Re6 11. Be2 Be7 12. Kd3 Kd6 13. Kc4# * enter image description here

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9
  • $\begingroup$ Nice idea and within the rules, but there is another possibility which makes use of a rather obscure chess rule and needs only 13 moves. Can you find it? $\endgroup$
    – Sleafar
    Commented Apr 9, 2016 at 14:10
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I'm thinking the obscure rule might be en passant, but at that point Kao Tse might think Li Chai was just making the rules up. $\endgroup$
    – f''
    Commented Apr 9, 2016 at 14:29
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ It's not the intended solution, but I think it's valid. I'll post the solution from the original story in a separate answer. $\endgroup$
    – Sleafar
    Commented Apr 9, 2016 at 15:41
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The question asks for a mate such that black cannot repeat the mating move. Here black could play Kc5. This is of course illegal because black is moving into check, but even in Part 1 black's option of repeating white's move leaves the black king in check. $\endgroup$
    – Julian Rosen
    Commented Apr 9, 2016 at 21:52
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    $\begingroup$ @JulianRosen I wasn't aware there were other methods to solve this than the intended one. The reason I accepted this is: 1) the black king is mated 2) he cannot mate the white king by repeating the move 3) the mating piece is not taken. The previous solution found by klm123 was probably even more convincing but way longer. $\endgroup$
    – Sleafar
    Commented Apr 10, 2016 at 6:00
16
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@klm123 found a way to beat the mandarin again. However Li Chai used a different method in the original story.

Preparation:

enter image description here

1. e4 e5 2. g3 g6 3. Ke2 Ke7 4. Kf3 Kf6 5. Kg2 Kg7 6. c3 c6 7. Qb3 Qb6 8. d4 d5 9. dxe5 dxe4 10. Bg5 Bg4 11. Ne2 Ne7

Finale:

enter image description here

12. f4 f5 13. exf6#

In the last move the black pawn is taken according to the en passant rule. This is only allowed in the move directly after the pawn to be taken has moved 2 squares forward. Therefore black cannot repeat this move.

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1
  • $\begingroup$ Nice! This breaks the chain. $\endgroup$
    – Joshua
    Commented Apr 10, 2016 at 0:37
12
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When I showed this puzzle to my friend he found a solution in 10 moves. I think it should be here for the sake of completeness.

The final position:

enter image description here

The moves:

enter image description here
1. d3 d6 2. Kd2 Kd7 3. Kc3 Kc6 4. Kb3 Kb6 5. Ka3 Ka6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. Nd5 Nd4 8. Nb6 Nb3 9. axb3 axb6 10. Kb4# *

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12
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An improvement of @kim123's answer. Using Bc1 instead of Nb1 is one move faster. (White's move 9)

1. d3 d6 2. Kd2 Kd7 3. Kc3 Kc6 4. Kb3 Kb6 5. Ka3 Ka6
6. Be3 Be6 7. Bb6 Bb3 8. axb3 axb6 9. Kb4#
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1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzling! I think this does count as an answer in itself; it's fine to use existing answers as a basis for your own one, especially if you mention where your inspiration is coming from. $\endgroup$
    – Glorfindel
    Commented Jul 1, 2018 at 16:44

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