A fun chess puzzle

Chess isn’t something I normally write about, but this puzzle was too interesting to pass up.

Why?

This puzzle stumped some very smart people, including Ken Thompson (one of the people behind Unix and C), and even world class chess players like Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, and Mikhail Botvinnik, according to an article Frederic Friedel wrote for ChessBase.

But I’m sure some people here will be able to figure it out and find it enjoyable.

So here is the puzzle.

A game begins with 1.e4 and ends in the fifth move with knight takes rook mate

Note the wording is very important, and there is a solution.

When you are ready, scroll down to see the answer.

Solution to the puzzle

The trick is realizing that black is the one that can make the checkmate.

I believe this is the correct answer. In chess notation:

1. e4 Nf6
2. f3 Nxe4
3. Qe2 Ng3
4. Qxe7+ Qxe7+
5. Kf2 Nxh1#
(White’s 2nd and 3rd moves can be transposed)

I prefer to see the moves in images, which you can see below: