# Excelsior (chess problem)

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{{Short description|Chess problem}}
{{Chess diagram
| floatright
| Sam Loyd, ''[London Era](/source/London_Era)'', 1861
|nd|  |rd|bd|  |  |  |  
|  |pd|  |  |  |pd|  |pd
|  |pd|  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |rl|  |  |  |  |  |kl
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|pd|  |  |  |pd|  |pl|nl
|  |pl|pl|  |rl|  |  |  
|nl|  |  |  |  |  |  |kd
| White to move and mate in five
}}
'''"Excelsior"''' is one of [Sam Loyd](/source/Sam_Loyd)'s most famous [chess problem](/source/chess_problem)s, originally published in ''London Era'' in 1861.
In 1867, it participated together with five other problems as a set in an international problem tournament. The motto for the full set was "Excelsior" (eng. 'Ever upward'), generally known as the title of the [poem](/source/poem) "[Excelsior](/source/Excelsior_(Longfellow))" by [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](/source/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow), and as that term is very fitting for this particular problem, it is generally associated with it. It is not to be confused by a popular 1958 study of the same name by Russian [chess composer](/source/chess_composer) Vladimir Korolkov, which has a similar thematic motif.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vladimir Korolkov {{!}} Russian chess composer {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Korolkov |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>  
{{algebraic notation|pos=toc}}

==Backstory==
Loyd had a friend who was willing to wager that he could always find the piece which delivered the principal mate of a chess problem.  Loyd composed this problem as a joke and bet his friend dinner that he could not pick a piece that ''didn't'' give mate in the main line (his friend immediately identified the pawn on b2 as being the least likely to deliver mate), and when the problem was published it was with the stipulation that White mates with "the least likely piece or pawn".<ref>''Sam Loyd and His Chess Problems'' - Alain C. White (p396 in Dover 1962 reprint). White quotes a letter from Loyd stating that the "friend" was Dennis Julien, and the problem was composed in 1858.</ref> Its first publication, in 1861, is not accompanied by any such stipulation.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Chess column |journal=The Era |date=January 13, 1861 |volume=XXIII |issue=1164 |page=15}}</ref>

==Solution==
'''1. b4!'''
:Threatening 2.Rf5 ''any''<ref group="note">Any legal move by Black.</ref> 3.Rf1# or 2.Rd5 ''any'' 3.Rd1# (with possible prolonging of both by 2...Rc5 3.bxc5 ''any'' 4.R mates). White cannot begin with 1.Rf5 because Black's 1...Rc5 would pin the rook. Now there are multiple possible moves defending only one of the threats and one secondary non-thematical defence: 1...Rxc2 2.Nxc2! a2 3.Rd5 (or Rf5) a1=Q 4.Nxa1 ''any'' {{nowrap|5.R mates}}.

'''1... Rc5+ 2. bxc5!'''
:Threatening 3.Rb1#.

'''2... a2 3. c6!''' 
:Again with the same threats as on move one, i.e. 4.Rf5 ''any'' 5.Rf1# or 4.Rd5 ''any'' 5.Rd1#.

'''3... Bc7''' 
:Because both Rd5 and Rf5 are threatened; the alternative moves 3...Bf6 and 3...Bg5 would only defend against one or the other. The given move does defend against Rd5 in the sense that 4.Rd5 Bxg3 5.Rd1+ Be1 6.Rdxe1# takes more than the required five moves, and similarly for 4.Rf5 Bf4.

'''4. cxb7 ''any'' 5. bxa8=Q/B#'''
:The mate is delivered with the pawn that starts on b2.

Any problem that features a pawn moving from its starting square to promotion in the course of the solution is now said to demonstrate the ''Excelsior'' theme. Nowadays it is most usually shown in [helpmate](/source/helpmate)s and [seriesmover](/source/seriesmover)s.

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Chess}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Excelsior (Chess Problem)}}
Category:Chess problems
Category:1861 in chess

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Excelsior (chess problem)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excelsior_(chess_problem)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excelsior_(chess_problem)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.