Wednesday, December 27, 2017

A Little Fun During The Holidays

NOTE: Do not scroll down quickly. Below the diagram are two hints of varying degrees and the very bottom shows the solution!


As all the locals know, the Charlotte Chess Center is closed for two weeks for the holiday break (December 20th through January 1st). The Christmas celebration has passed and the new year is coming. While the chess center takes a break, all the blog readers should get a break as well. And so in order to rest everyone's mind for next Tuesday, instead of brain grinding deep analysis, I'm giving you guys something a little different to solve.

Below is an 8x8 diagram, just like a chess board, filled with letters. Within the diagram is 8 famous chess players, both past and present, each with 8 letters in their name (narrows the possibilities tremendously!) You job is to find the 8 chess players.

Sounds simple, right? Try again! This is not your ordinary word search. You actually have to make chess moves to find the 8 players. Here is a list of the rules that must be followed:
  • No letter in the diagram can be used more than once! When all 8 players are found, all 64 letters in the diagram will be used.
  • Two of the players will require Queen moves to go from letter to letter, two of the players will require Rook moves to go from letter to letter, two of the players will require Bishop moves to go from letter to letter, and two of the players will require Knight moves to go from letter to letter.
  • For all of the entries that use pieces that move in a straight line (Queen, Rook, Bishop), a turn must be made after every letter, and no U-turns will be made. So, for the case of the Rooks, if you move horizontally to go from the first letter to the second letter, you will have to go vertical to the next letter, then horizontal to the next, etc. In the case of Bishops, all moves will also be a 90 degree turn since no U-Turns are allowed. Knights have no restrictions and may continue to hop in the same direction as the previous letter.
  • To distinguish Queen entries from Rook or Bishop entries, both Queen entries will have at least one diagonal move and at least one horizontal or vertical move.

A few things to watch out for. Some names may have more than one way to be reached in the diagram. If you see that happening, you might want to hold off to determine which one is correct by finding another name in the diagram and seeing which letters are needed for other names.

Also, it might help copy the diagram on a piece of paper to keep track of letters used. This is probably better than printing as the diagram may not fit on one page, and you may accidentally expose yourself to the solution.

Z
K
P
M
U
N
E
I
A
I
U
A
A
R
C
L
H
T
I
S
N
A
E
C
K
R
A
R
C
K
H
I
M
O
K
R
A
H
I
N
A
I
K
A
O
N
R
L
T
V
G
G
H
S
V
I
L
S
O
E
A
O
N
L





If you want a starting hint, scroll down slowly. If you want the solution, scroll all the way to the bottom.







Starting Hint: One of the entries starts on the square c3 and continues with Knight moves. Also, since every letter must be used, think about how few players with 8 letter have a Z in their name - you might want to work backwards to find this one! If you want a bigger hint (the starting squares for all 8 entries), continue to scroll slowly but not all the way to the bottom.







Bigger Hint: The starting squares for the 8 entries are a4, b1, b8, c2, c3, d3, e6, and h8. Scroll down further and you'll expose the entire solution.

















SOLUTION

Korchnoi - Queen Moves - b8-b4-d4-e5-g5-g1-c1-c6
Nakamura - Queen Moves - e6-f6-f5-d7-d8-e8-b5-c5
Marshall - Rook Moves - a4-a7-f7-f2-e2-e1-h1-h3
Steinitz - Rook Moves - b1-b6-g6-g4-h4-h2-a2-a8
Alekhine - Bishop Moves - d3-h7-g8-c4-a6-b7-f3-d1
Ivanchuk - Bishop Moves - h8-b2-a3-f8-h6-f4-c7-a5
Kasparov - Knight Moves - c3-e4-d6-c8-e7-d5-e3-g2
Gligoric - Knight Moves - c2-a1-b3-d2-f1-g3-h5-g7

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