Game Problem

Logic Level 2

Spongebob and Patrick are playing a chess game. The board is as follows:

What is the minimum number of moves Patrick can take to checkmate Spongebob if Spongebob is playing White? Note it is Patrick's turn.

The answer is 3.

1 solution

Duval Carranza
Jun 28, 2020

The rook on E3 can attack the pawn on G3. This forces the king to move to F1. Bishop on G4 moves to E2 and the king is now forced to move to E1. Knight moves to E3 and forces checkmate.

@DUVAL CARRANZA : Kf1 isn't a forced move. Spongebob can respond with fxg3 or Bg2, also. So I'm pretty sure you can't guarantee that checkmate will occur in three moves.

Ved Pradhan - 11 months, 2 weeks ago

From the question wording, I don't think it's necessarily forced checkmate.

Elijah L - 11 months, 2 weeks ago

I think the questions is saying, "the minimum number of moves to guarantee checkmate." If checkmate is possible but not guaranteed, there's no point in the question.

Ved Pradhan - 11 months, 2 weeks ago

@Ved Pradhan – This tripped me up too. I think the answer to the question "how many moves does black need to force checkmate?" is $5$ ; but if white cooperates (which - although it's weird - seems to be the actual wording), $3$ will do. But since white is cooperating, why not just resign?

Chris Lewis - 11 months, 2 weeks ago

@Chris Lewis – I agree, that's exactly what I thought.

Ved Pradhan - 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Let's say the only piece Spongebob can move is the king.

DUVAL CARRANZA - 11 months, 2 weeks ago

That assumption was not stated in the question.

Elijah L - 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Game Problem

The answer is 3.

1 solution

0 pending reports