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Well, we're all in trouble, yet again. The fabled Faerie Army has come to take over our dimension.

This is the battlefield:

enter image description here

However, their soldiers don't work quite like ours...

Their pawns move as ours, but they capture the same way (one space in front of them). They can't capture with a two-space move. Due to some ancient curse, they can't move a pawn three turns in a row (whether the same pawn, or three different ones)

Their knights move as a knight, but they make multiple knight moves in the same direction. They jump over anything in their path, but they can't stop (they must go until they literally can't because of the edge of the board.) They capture only if they land on a piece on the last square they would move to.

Their bishops can only move an even number of squares.

Their rooks move like our rooks but capture as our bishops.

Their queen moves like our queen but captures like our knights.

Their king moves like our knights, but can't capture. We have to checkmate the king to win.

Oh hey, they just made their first move.

enter image description here

Well, over to you. Can you win or at least draw?

(Yes, you must assume the worst.)

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  • $\begingroup$ the fairy pawns "can't" move 3 times in a row? $\endgroup$
    – user52327
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Jannis yes... not exactly sure what you're asking though, is the wording confusing? $\endgroup$
    – Excited Raichu
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:38
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    $\begingroup$ @Jannis changed from 3 times to 3 turns, maybe that's clearer? $\endgroup$
    – Excited Raichu
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:40
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    $\begingroup$ @Deusovi I believe I have a solution to this. $\endgroup$
    – Excited Raichu
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:42
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    $\begingroup$ Can a knight move from h3 to f2 if d1 is blocked by a white piece? Or is it an illegal move? $\endgroup$
    – Jafe
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 14:28

2 Answers 2

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So ...

It's possible to mate with 2 turns
twoturns

What happens:

NXe7 QXe7
NXd7 QXe2#

Because:

King can't escape,
queen can only hit like a knight
and bishop cant go 2 fields

Earlier Edit:

like this
NXe7 QXe7
Kf3 Qe6
Kh4 Qg4#

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  • $\begingroup$ 1. It's not a helpmate, and 2. If it were a helpmate, there's a way to do it quicker. Nice try, though! $\endgroup$
    – Excited Raichu
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:49
  • $\begingroup$ @ExcitedRaichu Why it isn't? $\endgroup$
    – user52327
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:50
  • $\begingroup$ because there's a way to do it without helping $\endgroup$
    – Excited Raichu
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:51
  • $\begingroup$ What do you mean with 'helping'? Why wouldn't this be checkmate? $\endgroup$
    – user52327
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:53
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    $\begingroup$ Assume the faerie army is trying to win. I can state this more bluntly in the question if you'd like. $\endgroup$
    – Excited Raichu
    Commented Nov 14, 2018 at 13:54
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White's pieces are incredibly weak and Black is sure to win. However, I can't see any directly forcing lines, so here's some notes on basic openings:

To generalize the other answer, after 1. ...Qxe7, moving the other knight, or any pawn other than those on the c, e, and g, files is mate after 2. ...Qxe2#. 2. e4 is likewise mate, 2. Kd3?? is mated by ...Qe4# (3. xe4 is not possible), and 2. Kf3's only continuations after ...Qe4+ are 3. Ke1 Qxe2# or 3. Kg5 f6+ 4. Kh3 (d5,d6,Qf5,Qg4,or Qh4)#.
Moving the c or g pawns is a disaster for White - while Black cannot immediately force mate, since 2. (c3/g3) Qxe2+ 3. (Kc2/Kg2) Qe4+ 4. (Bd3/Qf3) and now Black must either develop further or gradually erode White's defenses before continuing further - a better option is to immediately take White's queen and mop up the rest of the back rank before the pawns can get out of the way.
This leaves the question of 2. e3. While the position is likely still winnable for Black even after a bad trade on e3 (either with the queen directly or with the dark-square bishop, in which case White will likely support with d3), doing so will involve a long and drawn-out battle as most of the back ranks are still locked in place. A better move for Black is 2. ...Qe5, opening the dark-square bishop and attacking the h-pawn, which can't be defended with 3. Qf3 since that allows 3. ...Qxe3+ 4. Qe2 Qxe2#.
White's only hope is a line like 3. Na4 Qxh2 4. Rg1 Qxg2 5. Bd3 (Bb5 gives the king an escape square but is easily routed), and any attempt from Black to dislodge the position by pushing pawns on the queenside is too slow to prevent 6. Rf1.
This just means that Black should sidestep with 5. ...Qg4, with 6. Qf3 Qxa4 7. Rb1 being the only line that doesn't immediately result in back rank collapse. Where from there? White's weak material has found a decently strong fortress that Black's queen can't quite crack by itself - the quickest lines probably start 7. ...Ba3.

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