3rd April 2023

Selected by Michael McDowell

Yves Cheylan

diagrammes, 1989

Mate in 4
Circe

In Circe chess a piece which is captured is replaced on its starting square, unless the square is occupied, when the piece is removed as in orthodox chess. The rules governing replacement are that a rook, bishop or knight returns to the starting square of the same colour as the square on which it is captured, while a pawn returns to the starting square of the file on which it is captured. In Cheylan’s problem White has two moves before the black force will be stalemated. How can he make the best use of them?

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