Black and White

William Shinkman published this problem in the St. Louis Globe Democrat in 1887. White is to mate in 8 moves:

shinkman chess problem - 1

It’s easier than it sounds — with the right approach, all Black’s moves are forced:

1. O-O-O Kxa7 2. Rd8 Kxa6 3. Rd7 Kxa5 4. Rd6 Kxa4 5. Rd5 Kxa3 6. Rd4 Kxa2 7. Rd3 Ka1 8. Ra3#

shinkman chess problem - 2

Remarkably, though the problem position looks contrived, it’s reachable in a legal game (discovered by Bader Al-Hajiri):

1. g4 e5 2. Nh3 Ba3 3. bxa3 h5 4. Bb2 hxg4 5. Bc3 Rh4 6. Bd4 exd4 7. Nc3 dxc3 8. dxc3 g3 9. Qd3 Rb4 10. Nf4 g5 11. h4 f5 12. h5 d5 13. h6 Bd7 14. h7 g2 15. h8B g1R!! 16. Bd4 Ba4 17. Rh4 Rg3 18. Bg2 gxf4 19. Be3 fxe3 20. Be4 fxe4 21. fxe3 exd3 22. exd3 c5 23. Rc4 dxc4 24. dxc4 b5!! 25. cxb4 Qa5 26. cxb5 Na6 27. bxa5 O-O-O!! 28. bxa6 Rd4 29. exd4 Rb3 30. cxb3 Ne7 31. bxa4 Nd5 32. dxc5 Nb6 33. cxb6 Kb8 34. bxa7+ Ka8

(Thanks, Florian.)

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