Chess Part XI Trivia Quiz

Answer: 5

White must be mated on e1 since trying to get mated anywhere else will take more moves. Getting mated on e1 by a Black pawn on f2 is the only way it can be done in 5 moves.
It takes a pawn at least 4 moves to get to f2, and Black needs another piece to support the pawn, so 5 moves. (White just simply has to not interfere with Black's mate) Here is an example:
(1.a4 e5 2.Ra3 e4 3.Rh3 Bc5 4.Rxh7 e3 5.Rxh8 exf2#)

Answer: 4

The best Black piece for capturing the rooks quickest is the knight, since it can hop over the undeveloped White pieces. It cannot possibly take less than 4 moves because Black would have to capture a rook on the second move (which can only be done with a bishop) and Black's bishop wouldn't be able to take the other rook the next move. So it has to be more than 3 moves.
One of the solutions is: (1.a4 Nf6 2.Ra3 Nh5 3.Rg3 Nxg3 4.a5 Nxh1).

Answer: 4

White must set himself up to get mated while Black has to hang his queen then mate White. The fastest way for Black to mate White without his queen is with his dark bishop taking at least 3 moves. Black must also use another move to hang his queen, so it takes at least 4 moves. (1.h4 e6 2.f4 Qg5 3.fxg5 Bd6 4.a3 Bg3#) also (1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 Qh4+ 3.g3 Be7 4.gxh4 Bxh4#)

Answer: 5

This simply cannot be done in less than 5 moves since it takes at least 5 moves just for a pawn to promote. There could be more 5-move solutions, but I came up with:
(1.c4 a5 2.b4 axb4 3.Qc2 b3 4.Ba3 bxc2 5.Bxe7 c1=Q#)

Answer: 3

White's king takes at least 3 moves to get to f3, so it couldn't possibly be less than 3 moves.
(1.f4 e5 2.Kf2 Qf6 3.Kf3 Qxf4#)

Answer: 9

The only White piece capable of developing immediately and snapping off Black's pawns quickly is the queen. It couldn't possibly take less than 9 moves, because it takes 2 moves to develop the queen, and there are 8 Black pawns that need to be off the board. Naturally someone would think it takes 10 moves, (2 moves to develop queen and 8 moves to take every pawn), but it can be done in only 9 moves if one of Black's pawns is promoted instead of captured. (1.c4 d5 2.Qb3 dxc4 3.Qxb7 c3 4.Qxa7 cxb2 5.Qxc7 e5 6.Qxe5+ Be6 7.Qxg7 h6 8.Qxh6 f6 9.Qxf6 bxc1=R#) is one of the millions of possible 9-move games where Black mates with none of his pawns on the board.

Answer: 5

It would take at least 5 moves for White to get mated on his 2nd rank (three pawn moves to check, and two pawn moves to support the checking pawn). The only way Black can mate faster is if White's king is on the third rank. It already takes White 3 moves to get his king to the 3rd rank, and 1 move to block his path back to the 1st. Black will never have enough pawn moves to cover the other free squares on the 4th rank, while still mating White with only pawns. It just isn't possible to do it in only 4 moves.

The fastest pure pawn mate takes 5 moves:
(1.f3 g5 2.Kf2 f5 3.h3 g4 4.Qe1 f4 5.h4 g3#)

Answer: 3

One of the few possible 3-move mates on d2 is:
(1.d4 c6 2.Kd2 Qb6 3.Qe1 Qxd4#)
It's obvious it cannot be done in 2 moves.

Answer: 5

First, White's king must get to a square a knight move away from f2. Kd1 is the fastest way of doing so, so White needs to make room for his king by playing c3 Qc2 or d3 Qd2. The third move is spent playing Kd1. Now White needs to smother himself by blocking e1.

The fastest way of doing so is Nf3-Ne1, which takes 2 more moves. Add all the moves together and it takes White 5 moves to smother his king on d1. Black has more than enough moves to get a knight to take f2. One example is: (1.c3 Nc6 2.Qc2 Nf6 3.Kd1 Ne5 4.Nf3 Nd3 5.Ne1 Nxf2#)

Answer: 6

1.f4 e5 2. Kf2 exf4 3.Qe1 f3 4.a3 fxg2 5.Nf3 Qg5 6.a4 gxh1=N#

It cannot be done in less than 6 moves because White's king cannot be mated on its original square. When the pawn promotes, the king will have a free square where the pawn used to be, so Black must use an extra move covering that square. It takes 5 moves to promote a pawn, plus an extra move to cover the square is 6 moves. In the scenarios where Black's pawn isn't touching the White king before it promotes, it takes White at least 7 moves to smother himself.
If you don't believe me you can spend forever trying to do it in 5 moves, but the king will never be able to smother itself fast enough.