Yugoslavia, 1981
16 JUN 2025
Proof Game in 8.0
Much can be read from the arrangement of Black’s pieces. The bQ must’ve taken two steps to reach g5 (Qd8–d5, then Qd5–g5), preceded by the d7-pawn advancing twice (d7–d5, d5–d4), and followed by Bc8–f5. Add to that the g8-knight’s three hops (Nf6, Nd5/Nh5, Nf4), and you’ve got all eight of Black’s moves accounted for.
White’s pieces, by contrast, offer little to go on. The f-pawn has moved once; the rest appear untouched. That leaves seven moves unaccounted for — presumably spent on a round trip. But to return to its starting square after an odd number of moves, a piece must lose a tempo, which surely rooks and knights can’t manage. That makes the wK the lone suspect: it must have slipped out via f2, triangulated, and circled back to e1.
But the question remains: how did the wK thread through Black’s forces? The trick must’ve been to defer ...d7–d5 — played too early, it stakes out too many light squares too soon, impeding the wK’s manoeuvrability. That suggests Black began with three moves by Ng8. Let’s test a line: 1.f3 Nf6 2.Kf2 Nh5 3.Ke3 Nf4 4.Ke4 d5+ 5.Kd4 — a dead end. 5...Bf5 can’t come yet, as Qd5–Qg5 must happen first. That implies the triangulation went via g4, with the bN reaching f4 through d5.
Hence, the solution: 1.f3 Nf6 2.Kf2 Nd5 3.Kg3 Nf4 4.Kg4! d5+ 5.Kh4 d4 6.Kg3 Qd5 7.Kf2 Qg5 8.Ke1 Bf5 — and we arrive at the diagram!