A Chess Problem Tribute to the James Webb Space Telescope!

A Chess Problem Tribute to the
James Webb Space Telescope!

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched by NASA on 25-Dec-2021, is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space and is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It is expected to look farther than the Hubble and has created great excitement among the astronomer community. It will uncover details to study and understand the earliest formation and evolution of Galaxies, Stars and Planets, including the origins of life.

When faced with all these new vistas, one is reminded of our own TRD’s words, from the envoi to “Ultimate Themes”, 1938: “Fairy problems have the limitless geometry of space before them, with life, fire, exquisite beauty, in rich and growing and never-ending profusion.“
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope

The layout of the JWST’s 18 mirrors immediately suggests a hexagonal chessboard which was covered in our classification project. So, here is a hexagonal chess problem to celebrate the JWST!

Chess Problem: Hexagonal Board with 19 squares: a1-a3-c5-e3-e1-c1

Rooks move through the sides of the squares. Bishops move through the corners. Pawns move vertically through the sides of the squares towards their bottom rank (here a1-e1 for BPs) and capture through the edges of the squares to the left or right.

Solution:
1.Re1-c3! ZZ
1…Ra2-b3 2.Rc3-c5#
1…Ba1-b3 2.Rc3-c4#
1…Rd1-d2 2.Rc3-e3#
1…Bc1-d2 2.Rc3-d3#
Double Grimshaw + 4 mates by WR
Tries: 1.Rb3+? R/Bxb3! 1.Rd2+? R/Bxd2! 1.Rxd1+? c2xd1=Q/R/B/S! 1.Re3+? Bxe3! 1.Re2? ZZ Rb3/Bc5!

Shankar Ram