A Kriegspiel Problem

The following problem appeared on the problem pages of Variant Chess, issue 20, Summer 1996.

The author of the problem is Geoffrey R. Foster.

White:
King g6; Queen b4; Rook a8, d1; Knight b5, c2; Bishop b6, e4; Pawn a2, f2, f7, g3, g4, g7, h2, h6.

No black pieces are visible.

Mate in 2; Kriegspiel.

Mate in 2 means: white moves, such that he can mate black in his second move, regardless what black moved. Note that here we use the Kriegspiel rules: one tries to move, the arbiter disallows illegal moves, and also tells both players when a piece is taken on which square this has happened, and when check is given. See the description of Kriegspiel for the details.

Joseph DiMuro was the first to solve the problem. The problem was on the Chess Variant Pages since October 14, 1996; and Joseph's solution came in on March 3, 1997. This was an especially hard problem, and specific congratulations go to Joseph DiMuro for solving it.

Solution