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Grotesque (chess)
In chess, a grotesque is a problem or endgame study which features a particularly unlikely or impossible initial position, especially one in which White fights with a very small force against a much larger black army. Grotesques are generally intended to be humorous.
A particularly extreme example by Ottó Bláthy is illustrated in the adjacent diagram. In the initial position Black has all sixteen pieces remaining and White has just a single pawn on its starting square, yet it is White who will deliver checkmate.
This position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) is: 8/8/8/2p5/1pp5/brpp4/qpprpK1P/1nkbn3 w - - 0 1
The solution is:
The fact that the black queen must be on a1 rather than a2 when White plays Nxb3 explains why 2.h4? does not work. Similarly, if the white knight takes a more direct route to the b3-square with 8.Ng6 Qa2 9.Ne5 Qa1 10.Nxc4? Qa2 11.Na5, Black can lose a move with 11...c4! 12.Nxc4 Qa1 13.Na5 Qa2 and there is no mate. By the same token, there are several alternatives to 8.Nf7 and 12.Ne4, as long as the knight arrives on time for 11.Nxc5 and 14.Nxc4 respectively. This kind of precise timing is quite a common feature in this type of problem.
The composer most closely associated with the grotesque is probably Tigran Gorgiev; here is one of his examples.
This position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) is : 8/8/4N3/4Q3/1pp5/1p3N2/bpqp1p2/nrkrbK2 w - - 0 1
This time, White is to play and draw. This is achieved by sacrificing most of his already small force to compel Black to repeat moves:
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Grotesque (chess)
In chess, a grotesque is a problem or endgame study which features a particularly unlikely or impossible initial position, especially one in which White fights with a very small force against a much larger black army. Grotesques are generally intended to be humorous.
A particularly extreme example by Ottó Bláthy is illustrated in the adjacent diagram. In the initial position Black has all sixteen pieces remaining and White has just a single pawn on its starting square, yet it is White who will deliver checkmate.
This position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) is: 8/8/8/2p5/1pp5/brpp4/qpprpK1P/1nkbn3 w - - 0 1
The solution is:
The fact that the black queen must be on a1 rather than a2 when White plays Nxb3 explains why 2.h4? does not work. Similarly, if the white knight takes a more direct route to the b3-square with 8.Ng6 Qa2 9.Ne5 Qa1 10.Nxc4? Qa2 11.Na5, Black can lose a move with 11...c4! 12.Nxc4 Qa1 13.Na5 Qa2 and there is no mate. By the same token, there are several alternatives to 8.Nf7 and 12.Ne4, as long as the knight arrives on time for 11.Nxc5 and 14.Nxc4 respectively. This kind of precise timing is quite a common feature in this type of problem.
The composer most closely associated with the grotesque is probably Tigran Gorgiev; here is one of his examples.
This position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) is : 8/8/4N3/4Q3/1pp5/1p3N2/bpqp1p2/nrkrbK2 w - - 0 1
This time, White is to play and draw. This is achieved by sacrificing most of his already small force to compel Black to repeat moves: