Single, Double, Triple Loyds!

Sam Loyd was an incredible puzzle-maker.  He was called the Prince of Puzzlers.  He made chess problems, math problems, and visual problems.  They are all super tricky to solve!  Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl) has chosen 3 of his chess puzzles for you today.

Here is a picture of Sam.  What a great moustache!  He lived between 1841 and 1911 and was born in Philadelphia.

The solver must pick up the king from the corner and place it on the correct squares!  Ideally you would start with the king off the board completely.  You have to put the king on the board where A. he is in checkmate, B. he is in stalemate, and C. he is going to be checkmated in one move!  You are not allowed to move any of the white pieces around.

Let's see if you are the Prince or Princess of Solvers!  Click on the links for more puzzles.

I will show you how to do the first one.  Answers will be at the very bottom of the page.

 

1.  

 

 

The black king needs to be in checkmate, stalemate and get mated in one.  So start by looking for places where he is trapped.  What patterns do you recognize?  The way the white king and queen are together I am reminded of Queen Sandwich and Sloppy Joe!  

So Ka6 is mate.  A helper mate!  

Stalemates often happen when the king is in the corner because he has the fewest number of escape squares there.  I immediately found Ka8.

Mate in one is harder, but again that Sloppy Joe pattern is still there!  With the king on a4, Qb4 is another helper mate.  Did you see all if those?

Now you try!

 

 

 

2.  Hint: The two most common mates are back rank and helper.  Since no white piece is guarding another, which do you think it is?

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Hint:  The knight is helping guard the rook...the oldest checkmate ever!  Look for stalemate near the white pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solutions!

1.  Checkmate Ka6; Stalemate Ka8; Mate-in-one Ka4 (and the mate is Qb4).

2.  Checkmate Kf1 (Back Rank mate); Stalemate Ka8; Mate-in-one Kh3 (and Rh1#).

3.  Checkmate Ka1 (Arabian mate); Stalemate Kc1; Mate-in-one Kf1 (Ra1#).

Tip of the week:  Make your own chess puzzle, and see if your friends can solve it!