ChessBase Christmas Puzzles December 25, 2007
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A Merry Christmas to all our readers

Click the card above to view the animated version (by ICQ Friendship cards)

The Missing Kings

But now to the traditional Christmas puzzles. On December 28, 2002 we had the following problem:

Dr Karl Fabel, Deutsche Schachblätter, 1950

Insert the black king so White can mate in one

As you can see the black king is missing in the diagram. You must place it somewhere on the board so that White can immediately mate in a single move. If you find two places then you will have to decide which one is correct. Think for a moment – only one is.

Solution: The black king must be placed on f3, and White can mate with the move 1.0-0 (castles). You may have thought that it is also possible for the black king to be placed on c1, with the same move leading to mate. But there is a problem. We have to ask ourselves how the black king got to c1. It couldn't do so on the a-file, since the pawns b2 and c2 have never moves and always guarded the squares a3 and b3. So the only way would have been via d2. But that means that White must have moved his king, and so castling is not legal. This in turn means there is no mate in one, as 1.Ke2+ is met by 1...Kxc2. Did you notice all of this?

A bit difficult, the above example. For our 2007 Christmas Day puzzle we have a simpler problem:

In the above diagram you must add the two missing kings in such a way that White, who is on the move, can deliver immediate mate, i.e. mate in one move.

Please do not send in any solutions yet. We will ask for them at the end of the puzzle sessions.