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The key was realizing the proximal spaces next to the placed queen are the most important to cover. Forget about trying to have a long reach, it comes naturally.
The trick for me was to place a queen (most anywhere, but start with a corner it’s easier), then check and look for the spot with the most reds around it (eg 9, or 8, or 7), place the next queen there, repeat. Then place the bishop as needed. The key was realizing the proximal spaces next to the placed queen are the most important to cover. Forget about trying to have a long reach, it comes naturally.
Wait, the instructions are a little ambiguous. I clicked "Solution" and it has the dark-squared bishop on a white square! XD Should maybe update the instructions to clarify that the dark-squared bishop is not constrained to dark squares.
that's exactly what happened to me. I ended up spending so much time thinking black bishop can only go to black squares. and agreed this is a bit ambiguous.
sorry, "The task is to place four black queens and one black bishop on the chessboard" is not at all ambiguous.
> The task is to place four black queens and one black bishop on the chessboard so that there is no square not under their attack. In other words, after arranging the five black pieces, it must be impossible to place the white king anywhere without it being in checkmate. That last word should be "check". not "checkmate". A king next to an unprotected queen will be in check but not checkmate as it can capture the quee…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
that's exactly what happened to me. I ended up spending so much time thinking black bishop can only go to black squares. and agreed this is a bit ambiguous.
> thinking black bishop can only go to black squares. and agreed this is a bit ambiguous sorry, "The task is to place four black queens and one black bishop on the chessboard" is not at all ambiguous.
> The task is to place four black queens and one black bishop on the chessboard so that there is no square not under their attack. In other words, after arranging the five black pieces, it must be impossible to place the white king anywhere without it being in checkmate. That last word should be "check". not "checkmate". A king next to an unprotected queen will be in check but not checkmate as it can capture the quee…
That assumes you can place the king on the board and move immediately. I think the puzzle assumes you can’t do that; that placing your king on the board is your move, thus ending your turn.
A real shame, this totally ruined the puzzle for me as it seemed so unlikely that all five Black pieces would be mutually protected. I should have forced myself to ignore the faulty clause and try to solve without it. The bad clause is also completely unnecessary - one of those cases where deleting text (or code!) is an improvement with no downside!
The trick for me was to place a queen (most anywhere, but start with a corner it’s easier), then check and look for the spot with the most reds around it (eg 9, or 8, or 7), place the next queen there, repeat. Then place the bishop as needed. The key was realizing the proximal spaces next to the placed queen are the most important to cover. Forget about trying to have a long reach, it comes naturally.
My friend code on BadukPop is EGVNY if anyone wants to play together!
> The task is to place four black queens and one black bishop on the chessboard so that there is no square not under their attack. In other words, after arranging the five black pieces, it must be impossible to place the white king anywhere without it being in checkmate. That last word should be "check". not "checkmate". A king next to an unprotected queen will be in check but not checkmate as it can capture the quee…
That assumes you can place the king on the board and move immediately. I think the puzzle assumes you can’t do that; that placing your king on the board is your move, thus ending your turn.
I solved it with this, a pleasingly symmetric solution. I was surprised that a solution exists with all the queens in a row. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Q . . B . . . . . . . . . . Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . Q . . . . . .