Well, it's been almost a year and a half since JerboaKolinowski
posted his writeup here, and promised to add the solution to the
two compositions he included. I nagged him every few months, and
he kept promising he'd do it any day now, and now he's possibly
fled the site (though bones tells me he always comes back), so it's up to me.
For reference, here are the compositions. In each, White is to play
and checkmate Black on the second move. White's pieces are denoted
by upper-case letters and Black's by lower-case. White is playing from
the bottom of the diagram upward, and Black from the top down.
------------------------------- -------------------------------
8 | | | | | | | | | 8 | | | | B | k | | | r |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
7 | | | | | | | | | 7 | | N | | | | | p | r |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
6 | | | | | | | | | 6 | | | n | Q | | | P | p |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
5 | | | B | | Q | K | | | 5 | | | | | | | | |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
4 | | | | | N | | | | 4 | | | | n | | | | |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
3 | | | R | | | | R | | 3 | | | | | | | | |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
2 | | | | p | k | p | | | 2 | | | | | | | K | |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
1 | | N | | | b | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | |
------------------------------- -------------------------------
a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h
Meredith #1
The thing that would strike most people, on first glance
at the composition
on the left, is poor Black!. He certainly looks overwhelmed, on a
material basis. But, as is always the case in these puzzles, he's
got an out
for almost every move that White makes. His few pieces are so constrained, his
only choices are to move his King to the first rank or to
promote a pawn (possibly
by capturing, if White moves a rook to the first on his first move).
I first insisted to Jerboa that this had no solution,
but he told me it depended
on a rule (that I haven't been able to find with a few minutes of googling) that
a promoted pawn must become a queen and not another piece. Given that rule, a
move that hadn't worked then became the solution (given below).
Meredith #2
This is one of my favorite compositions ever, because even after giving up
and being told White's move, many people will insist that it doesn't work.
They'll respond "But Black can …". Here's a hint as to what I'm
talking about: Look at Black's rooks.
Notice the rook on h7? How could it have gotten there? That's right! The rook
on h8 cannot have been there since the beginning of the game, hence Black is
unable to castle. Given that, try again. Solution below.
The Solutions
I don't know if people would prefer that I just list the key move, or give
some commentary on Black's responses. For now, I'll just give the key, and
add more on demand. (And I really will!)