Puzzle Contest

This month's contest puzzle is below. First, though, let's refresh your memory on the rules for this contest:

The general plan for this contest will be to present a series of puzzles, all with a bughouse theme. Some of the puzzles will be standard "find the mate" puzzles, like the ones in my bughouse quizzes, but they won't all be like that. To keep the puzzles interesting and challenging, I'll try to present puzzles with a variety of formats and requirements. (I'll probably be the one creating most of these puzzles, but if you have an interesting idea for a puzzle, definitely contact me. I can always use some good ideas.)

Unlike the studies in my bughouse quizzes, I will not be publishing a solution for these puzzles right away. Instead, I will be publishing the names of the first 10 bughouse players who send me a full solution for the puzzle. The first solver will take the honored position at the top of the list, with the nine runner-up solvers listed immediately below that.

To decide the order in which solutions are found, I will generally go by the received date and time on the e-mail. However, for players who send me a more thorough analysis I will throw in a "fudge factor" to allow for the extra time spent. This fudge factor will be granted purely at my own disgression and will be used only when answers are timestamped at approximately the same date and time.

Of course, one of my objectives in creating these puzzles is to make them difficult -- there wouldn't be much point in having a contest puzzle that can be solved in five minutes now, would there?

Puzzle #3
uploaded October 3, 1999

Well, if, as I am starting to suspect, these contest puzzles haven't gone over big with average buggers, then I'd say there's a real good chance they'll never come back after they see this month's position. Gag, a bughouse endgame, no less! (I know, I know, the reason many of you took up bughouse was because you got sick of blowing all those won endings in regular chess.) But wait, don't click that "Back" button yet. I really want to see a few buggers rated under 1900 make the star solvers list this time. So, here's some help...

First, in case you are not up on king + rook vs. king + bishop theory in regular chess, you should know that most of these positions are drawn. So, for the puzzle being presented here, you have little chance of success by just dropping the rook anywhere. You're going to have to make a good drop, maybe on the first move, maybe later.

Also, I think I should mention that many of the drawn K+R vs K+B positions in regular chess require stalemate. In bughouse, a stalemate is as good as a win, since it forces your opponent to sit. Stalemate may or may not play a part in the solution, but it does mean that if you were planning to solve this one by using a K+R vs K+B endgame database, um, sorry but that won't work.

Okay, now go for that spot on the star solvers podium. There's only four pieces - how hard can this one be?

Oliver Hausherr

Dragonslayr

Kueh

Fabrice Liardet

If you think you have the answer, e-mail your analysis to me. For your answer to be acceptable, it must cover all the key lines of the solution. For this particular puzzle, you need to either force checkmate, force stalemate, or force the win of the Black bishop. (No, you don't have to prove to me you know how to do the K+R vs K mate.)

If your answer is correct, I will let you know. I will also e-mail a reply if your answer is incorrect or not quite complete, but you make a good attempt to solve it. By the way, I won't be selling your e-mail address to any e-mail merchants, so you don't have to worry about adding to your massive daily allotment of junk e-mail if you send an answer in. Happy solving!

I plan to upload a new contest puzzle the first Sunday of every month. Look for my next puzzle November 7, 1999!


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