ChessBase Christmas Puzzles December 25, 2005
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Before we embark on our yearly Christmas Puzzle tour we would like to wish all our readers, all over the world, a Merry Christmas. We do this with a tinge of apprehension, since at the moment, as we write, there is a debate raging in one of the more ardent Christian countries on how to avoid the religious overtones implied in the name. One needs to be politically correct. Using the age-old camouflage name "Xmas" is apparently no longer sufficient, even though it has received a massive boost from the Microsoft Corp., which released an appropriately named gaming machine in time for this year's You-know-what Season.

So what to do? Wish our readers a Merry Holiday? But hold on, isn't that the Old English word haligdæg, which comes from halig = holy + dæg = day, meaning "religious festival"? We are treading dangerous ground here. Okay, how about Seasons Greetings, to be celebrated with season carols sung under the season tree? No, still not working. Festivus, as celebrated by Frank Costanza? A Happy Weekend? How about we simply leave it to our friends Titia and Rob Vlaardingerbroek, who sent us the following greetings from The Hague, Netherlands.

The Behting Study

Now to work. The first puzzle in this year's series is one that has been recycled quite a bit – apologies to those readers who have encountered it before. It is one a problem that has roamed the world of computer chess for over twenty years now.

t all began in 1983, when, as a rooky journalist, I co-founded the first German computer chess magazine, Computerschach & Spiele. In the very first issue of the magazine, which ran for 22 years, I presented a study about which I wrote the following: "Why will computers beat world champion Anatoly Karpov" [ah, yes, Tolya ruled at the time] "before they will be able to solve the following study." And then I presented the famous "Behting Study".

K. K. Behting, Baltische Schachblätter 1908

White to play and draw

This, you must admit, is not a very complex position. Just two knights and a few pawns. But it goes beyond the horizon of most computers – and most human beings. Try to work it out. It might drive you to distraction.

Normally we tend to ask you to solve our Christmas puzzles without seeking assistance from the electronic smarty-pants. In this case we explicitely ask you to analyse the position with the finest chess program at your disposal. The best way to go about it is to play the white side and let the computer attack with the black pieces. Unless you find the one correct solution it will frustrate your every attempt to hold the position for white.

There is another experiment you can try: switch the chess program on and allow it to search for a move in the starting position. Let it ponder for many hours – or days if necessary. Watch the evaluation. We can only say that it has found the solution when it displays the correct first move with a 0.00 evaluation (indicating a draw). Chances are it will not do so. Second best case: the computer finds the correct solution and plays it correctly, while still thinking it is hopelessly lost.

So what is this mysterious, this legendary first move? Well, simply one of the deepest I have ever encountered in a chess study. No, I'm not going to reveal the move or the solution, not just yet. Try and find it yourself. Really. And don't spoil your fun by googling it on the Internet.

Here's a little tip to help you in your endeavors. If I were to reveal the solution to you, I would show you just the first three white moves. Then I would make a short statement, explaing a logical point. That would would take about one minute to do. After that you would agree that the position is a dead draw, that indeed the solution is perfectly correct. Maybe we would spend another minute discussing why the key move is essential, why only it and nothing else works. After that you would understand the entire solution of the study.

Happy problem solving and, what the heck – Merry Christmas, everybody!

Frederic Friedel