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Allumwandlung

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Niels Hoeg
1905
abcdefgh
8
a7 white rook
e6 black king
f6 white pawn
g6 white pawn
d5 black pawn
e5 black pawn
f5 black pawn
d4 white bishop
f4 white pawn
b3 white king
d3 white pawn
f3 white pawn
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Mate in three. A chess problem with Allumwandlung.

Allumwandlung (German for "complete promotion", sometimes shortened to AUW) is a chess problem where, at some stage in the solution, the pawn (or sometimes pawns) is promoted variously to a knight, bishop, rook and queen.

At right is a chess problem composed by Niels Hoeg and first published in 1905. White to move and mate in three. The key move (white's first move) is 1.f7, and depending on how black defends, white promotes to either a queen, a rook, a bishop or a knight on move two. The lines are:

1... e4 2. f8Q any 3. Qe7 mate (or Qf6 mate)
1... Kd6 2. f8Q Kc6 3. Qc5 mate
1... exf4 2. f8R Kd6 3. Rf6 mate
1... exd4 2. f8B Kf6 3. Ra6 mate
1... Kf6 2. f8N exd4 3. Rf7 mate

The importance of white's underpromotions can be understood by considering what happens if he promotes to a queen no matter what black plays: after 1... exf4 or 1... exd4 2. f8Q is stalemate, while following 1... Kf6 2. f8Q Kxg6 there is no mate.

See also