01 September, 00:04

The results are published here.

01 September, 00:00

GONG! End of the tournament! Thank you to all participants for a great two months, for all the efforts put in, and apologies for the sleepless nights... :-) Congratulation to all also for some incredible matrices found, and to Arno for some fantastic results... in all categories!

31 August, 22:02

Cornel improves with a nice B1/14/39! 2 hours left...

31 August, 09:44

Cornel finds a nice A1/19/55/7!

31 August, 00:01

Last day! Jean-Christian finds Ralf's first B2/5/26!

29 August, 18:48

Ralf finds a D1/16/29!

27 August, 20:38

Ivan also passes the 60 moves with an impressive: A1/18/63/6! The last minutes promise to be quite hot...

26 August, 19:05

Arno improves with an impressive C1/34/19/3! First one to use 19 pieces!!!

25 August, 19:22

Welcome to Jean-Christian Galli! He enters the arena with some very nice entries! He finds: B2/4/18, B2/6/31, B2/7/38, B2/8/43, A2/9/46/2, D2/5/17, D2/6/22, D/8/25, D9/27, C2/7/24/1, C2/10/29/1, and a 60 moves: A1/14/60/4!!! Cornel also solves the 9th puzzle...

24 August, 09:25

Arno improves with: C1/16/32/3, C2/15/31/2 and C2/14/30/1!

23 August, 10:13

Arno finds a masterpiece D1/15/30!!! Most elegant... he also improves with a C1/17/32/2!

22 August, 20:38

Just 9 more days to go! I have the feeling we are still not out of surprises :-) Ok, time for an incredible puzzle that I read recently in a really great book, highly recommended, Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane... ok, not exactly, I modified it very slightly :-)

22 August, 19:41

Arno finds a beautiful C1/18/32/3, and takes the lead in that category! Ivan finds a nice A1/17/51/1!

20 August, 18:41

Ivan improves with a very nice B1/17/50, and is the third to reach 50!

19 August, 19:37

Arno finds the elegant third B2/4/18!

18 August, 23:34

Cornel also finds the C2/7/24/1, and takes the lead in the number of records!

18 August, 21:06

And when the momentum is going... Cornel goes to first place with a C1/15/31/4! He also finds the C2/10/29/1...

18 August, 19:50

Cornel is getting quite close to Arno with a very nice C1/15/30/4! Arno also finds the first of the B2/4/18...

15 August, 18:44

Arno finds Ion's B2/5/26!

15 August, 09:54

Well, it has been quite a while now... :-) We're entering the last 2 weeks of the tournament! And I believe all is still possible, in all the categories. 2 weeks is relatively short, but a lot can be found in such a period of time. Cornel finds some nice entries: D2/5/17, D2/6/22, D2/8/25, D2/9/27 and C1/14/29/4!

07 August, 18:51

Arno finds another nice series: A2/9/46/1, A2/10/51/1 and A2/11/54/2!

05 August, 09:00

Arno finds a nice series of entries: B2/8/41, B2/9/44, B2/11/50 and B2/12/51!

03 August, 20:52

Arno finds an A2/14/63/3, A2/13/62/2 and A2/12/60/2! Ion finds a second, quite elegant D2/15/28!

02 August, 10:16

And Arno continues his second half record breaking :-) He finds a C1/16/31/5! And also a B2/13/52 and a C2/7/24/1...

01 August, 18:08

Second half! All is still possible, it will be an interesting month :-) Arno starts quite strongly, with a very nice B1/16/56, taking the lead in that category too! He also finds a B2/14/53 and a B2/15/54... A big question is also whether the C1 and D1 categories will see new records, it has been quite calm there... well, for what its worth, I believe yes :-)

31 July, 19:37

A participant asks a very good question I have not thought of! What if in the categories C and D, one has two (or more) unique solutions of different number of moves, that finish with different final positions (but still following the 2 white / 2 black maximum imposed)? I did not really exclude that possibility in the stipulations... thus, well, it is ok! :-) It could give a few ideas to some...

31 July, 17:16

Ion finds Alexandre's top D1/16/29! He also finds a D2/15/28...

30 July, 19:59

Ivan improves with a B1/13/48, and Ion with a C1/16/29/1 and a D1/16/28!

29 July, 17:00

Ion finds a nice C1/14/27/2!

29 July, 02:38

Ralf finds a nice series of entries: D2/9/27, C2/7/24/1, and C1/10/29! One can note how tough it is to break free in the C and D categories... but I am quite sure there is still a lot to discover there!

28 July, 20:03

Cornel finds an elegant C1/16/27/4!

28 July, 18:04

Ralf finds Arno's D2/8/25!

27 July, 14:23

New cute puzzle added...

27 July, 10:49

And the 70 is reached!!! Arno finds an A1/18/72/6! New target: 80... :-) He also finds an A2/17/71/6 and an A2/16/69/5...

27 July, 10:12

Ion becomes sole leader with a B1/15/53! He also finds a B2/11/50, B2/12/51 and B2/13/52...

26 July, 18:50

Ion also finds a B2/15/52!

26 July, 15:51

Arno finds an A1/17/67/5! And also an A2/16/66/5 and an A2/15/65/4... Ralf finds a very nice D1/16/28, and is now just one move away from Alexandre! He also solves the 5th puzzle...

25 July, 19:00

Many news today... Arno improves even more, and gets very close to the 70 barrier with a B1/17/66/5! He also finds a B2/16/65/5... Cornel finds a very nice D1/15/26, and Ivan finds several entries: a sixth (!) B2/4/18, Pascal's B2/5/26, both D2/3/9 and D2/4/12, and finally a most beautiful B1/11/46!

24 July, 19:52

Ion improves with C1/16/26/3!

24 July, 18:40

Ion finds a very nice C1/16/26/4!

24 July, 08:53

Ion improves an entry with A2/14/60/3!

23 July, 19:40

Arno reaches the mythical 64! He finds an A1/17/64/5! And also an A2/16/63/4... Ion equalizes with Arno in the B category with a B1/16/53!

23 July, 08:57

And Arno responds with a B1/16/53! He also finds a B2/15/52 and the B2/13/51...

22 July, 20:31

Ion improves with a beautiful B1/16/52!

22 July, 09:06

Cornel solves the 7th puzzle!

21 July, 11:56

Cornel finds the elegant D2/3/9 and D2/4/12!

20 July, 21:57

Nice puzzle added...

20 July, 21:11

Ion continues to improve in the A2 category with: A2/9/46/1, A2/10/51/1 and an A2/11/52/1!

20 July, 20:10

Ion finds two entries in the B2 category: B2/8/41 and B2/9/43!

20 July, 14:23

Ion takes the lead now with a B1/13/51!

20 July, 11:44

Arno and Ion continue their big fight at the top! They both reach 50 in the B category, Arno just one move more! He finds a B2/12/50 and a B1/15/51, while Ion finds a B1/12/50!

19 July, 22:25

And Ion does the same! He passes the 60, and is getting very close (to say the least) to Arno with an A1/15/62/4! What a day...

19 July, 15:26

And the 60 is reached... and passed!!! Arno responds by finding an A1/16/63/5! Not only that, he also finds Ion's B1/10/48! And an A2/15/61/4 and B2/9/43...

19 July, 13:43

A little bit off topic, if you are interested in Physics in general, or the String theory in particular, I would (very) highly recommend seeing: "The Elegant Universe". An absolutely incredible film of 3 hours.

19 July, 13:24

Ion continues to impress with a series of very nice records: A2/11/50/1, A2/12/55/2, A2/13/56/3, A2/14/58/3 and A1/15/59/4! Just 1 from 60, no doubt soon to be reached!

19 July, 11:07

Ion takes the lead in the B category with a beautiful B1/10/48! He also finds a B2/8/40 and a B2/9/42... Arno also solves the 6th puzzle...

18 July, 18:22

Arno finds a beautiful B1/14/41, and is thus the first to reach all the requirements for the initial challenge, well done! And it was far from easy... every category has its twist and turns, and is a real challenge! Cornel also finds the second B2/4/18...

18 July, 12:12

Ion finds the first found B2/4/18 :-)

17 July, 20:46

Ion finds two additional A2 entries: A2/14/53/4 and A2/15/54/4!

17 July, 19:34

And Ion takes the lead in the A category with a great A1/17/57/6!!! Soon we reach the 60 barrier! He also finds a second A2/16/56/6... Cornel is the first to solve the 6th puzzle!

17 July, 18:23

Mario also solves the 5th puzzle!

17 July, 14:57

Ion improves significantly, and is just 2 moves away from Arno in the A1 category with a very nice A1/16/54/7! He also finds an A2/12/48/5, A2/13/50/5 and A2/14/52/6!

17 July, 10:41

Ion finds a D1/9/24! New puzzle added...

16 July, 20:17

Ion finds a new C2/7/24! Pascal also finds the two D2/3/9 and D2/4/12...

16 July, 18:40

Ion also finds the D2/5/17 and D2/6/22!

16 July, 15:34

Cornel improves in the B1 category with a nice B1/12/37! Welcome to a new participant, Mario Richter! He starts with a B2/3/12, and solves the 1st and 4th puzzles! He also remarks that the <Intelligent> option is not currently implemented in Popeye for the Lortap condition, and should thus not be used as it would not give the desired result.

16 July, 13:19

Ion also finds the two elegant D2/3/9 and D2/4/12!

16 July, 11:44

Ion improves with an elegant B1/10/41!

15 July, 19:47

Ion finds a nice A1/15/45/4! Impressive start...

15 July, 14:46

Well, ask and it will be answered :-) Ion reaches B1/13/40! Dare I say who will be the first to reach 50 in the B category?!?!

15 July, 13:08

Ion finds a very nice B1/12/36! Who will be the second one to reach the 40 barrier in the B category?!

15 July, 10:29

Ralf finds a new B2/5/26!

14 July, 22:00

Ion also finds one of the B2/4/18!

14 July, 16:03

And Cornel already solved the 5th puzzle! He also improves with an A1/16/50/4...

14 July, 14:32

Welcome to a new participant, Ion Murarasu! He starts quite strongly, with a B2/3/12 and B2/5/26!

14 July, 13:10

Nice puzzle added... about a quarter of the tournament has past, and so many beautiful matrices have been discovered. I am convinced such tournaments not only produce incredible task like problems, but truly artistic compositions.

14 July, 13:07

Pascal finds a very nice B2/5/26, and a fifth B2/4/18!

14 July, 11:07

Ralf solves Arno's D2/3 and D2/4 puzzle! :-)

13 July, 20:47

Well... Arno is sure in great form, and getting very close to the next 60 barrier! He finds a great A1/16/56/6! He also finds an A2/10/47/3 and an A2/15/54/5! Cornel gets also to the 50 barrier with a very nice A1/16/5/50! The battle is raging now at the top... Arno also gives a very nice tip, in that instead of seeing a lot of solutions defiling fast, and stopping Popeye manually, one can set the MaxSolutions option to 3 for example. This is quite handy.

13 July, 10:29

Alexandre breaks the curse!!! He finds a beautiful A1/18/53/7! Yes, 7 promoted pieces, and 18 pieces... :-) Note that the maximum initial number of pieces is 19. Cornel also improves in the A1 category with a very nice A1/15/46/5!

12 July, 23:05

Cornel finds a beautiful A1/15/40/6! He also finds the B2/3/12...

12 July, 11:16

And Pascal also takes the lead in the A1 category with a very nice A1/16/52/3! He also finds an A2/15/51/2... Three composers now at 52 moves, is it some sort of curse?! :-) No doubt it will soon be broken... Arno finds the two entries: D2/5/17 and D2/6/22!

11 July, 20:23

Wow... although it is in the low dimensions, it is most brilliant! Arno finds a D2/3/9 and D2/4/12!!! Beautiful... a true puzzler.

11 July, 09:24

Serveral news: Pascal continues his ascent with a B1/15/48! Will he be the first to attain 50 in the B category?! Looks like it! Arno finds a nice series of records: D2/8/25, D2/9/27, A2/13/47/3, and A2/15/49/3! And finally Axel also finds a nice series: D2/3/6, two D2/4/9, and solves puzzles 3 and 4!

10 July, 21:11

Pascal is on fire, and vastly improves his record in the B1 category with a 46 moves record, a B1/11/46!!! He also finds a B2/4/18, B2/9/41, B2/10/45, and solves the 4th puzzle!

10 July, 09:15

And Arno has done it, he reaches 30 in the C category with a beautiful C1/16/30/5! He "just" has to reach 40 now in the B1 category... :-) Ivan finds two new D2/4/9, and Pascal's B2/4/18!

09 July, 20:01

Arno finds a beautiful C1/10/29/1!!! No doubt the 30 barrier will soon be attained... Cornel also solves the 4th puzzle, which I modified a little bit...

09 July, 09:04

Cornel finds a nice D1/9/21!

08 July, 21:35

Beautiful puzzle added...

08 July, 20:06

An important point to be aware of is that it is the total number of pieces which counts, and not only the number of white pieces. Well... several big news, Arno takes the lead again in the A1 category with a very nice A1/17/52/4, and Alexandre finds a great D1/16/29!!! One point away from the 30 barrier in the C1 category!

07 July, 09:18

Unfortunately I have to make it fast, as I am quite late for work! But... brace yourselves, welcome to Alexandre Leroux, who finds a fantastic A1/17/52/6!!! Let the battle begin... :-) And also welcome to Ivan Skoba, who finds a nice series of records: B2/3/12, B2/4/18, B1/9/31, D2/3/6 and D2/4/9! And Ralf is far from resting, and finds a great A2/8/43/1! Just 8 pieces!!! This no doubt is quite promising for the future...

07 July, 20:25

Just one word: amazing. Arno finds a most beautiful A1/16/51/4!!! He also finds a D1/10/20, and thus is the first to fulfill two of the four parts of the challenge... Ralf also finds a most elegant D1/6/22, and takes the lead in that category! He also finds the B2/3/12...

07 July, 09:02

Welcome to Arno Tüngler! He starts with some very nice entries: B2/3/12, B2/4/18 and B1/14/35!

06 July, 23:34

Cornel improves with a B1/9/33!

06 July, 23:03

Ralf finds Axel's B2/4/18, and a brand new - and most elegant - B2/4/18! How many of these will we have?! :-)

06 July, 21:46

Cornel starts in the B1 category with a beautiful B1/8/31! Axel also solves the 2nd puzzle...

06 July, 11:56

Pascal finds a third B2/4/18, quite an elegant version... Interestingly, the A2 table is currently empty!

06 July, 09:33

Cornel finds a second D2/4/9!

05 July, 21:00

Ralf finds a series of very nice entries: B2/6/31, B1/7/38 and A1/9/40/2! There are many original and interesting entries found so far... Cornel also solves the 3rd puzzle!

05 July, 13:50

New very nice puzzle added. Found in a book by Martin Gardner, but whose author is unknown.

05 July, 11:00

A little bit off topic, in the previous tournament, I talked about the Cast Elk puzzle, but I did not say where it can be bought. Well, I bought many puzzles from a company in the UK called Pentangle, and I never had any problem with them, all was always going very smoothly and rapidly. They have a great selection of great puzzles. I brought many of these to my workplace, and one could hear the noise of the metal clinging in a quiet environment, somewhere far away from my desk... hmm, wonder what he is doing there... :-) Not good for productivity (well, debatable), but great for team spirit!

05 July, 09:14

Ralf fights back with a very nice B2/5/26! Welcome to a new participant, Axel Gilbert, who finds the B2/3/12 and a second B2/4/18! Cornel also solves the second puzzle...

04 July, 23:21

And Pascal is the first to reach 40 in the B1 category, with a superb B1/9/40!!! He also finds a B2/7/34 and a B2/8/39...

04 July, 22:58

Pascal continues his ascent, with some very nice records: B2/4/18, B2/6/27 and B2/8/31!

04 July, 22:50

Ok, time for a new cute puzzle :-)

04 July, 22:04

Ralf finds a beautiful D2/5/17! Just 3 moves from fulfilling one of the four parts of the initial challenge...

04 July, 20:46

Ralf finds two very pretty entries: D2/3/6 and D2/4/9! In this tournament, even the very low dimensions ones are quite challenging! :-)

04 July, 19:33

Cornel improves with an A2/7/28/1...

04 July, 09:16

Cornel finds a series of nice records: A2/8/31/1, A2/7/27/1, A2/5/22/1, and a fourth B2/4/16!

03 July, 22:21

Pascal also finds a beautiful B1/8/30, and takes the lead in that category! He also finds a B2/6/26, and two B2/4/16...

03 July, 00:12

Ralf finds a beautiful B2/6/22!

02 July, 20:35

Welcome to Pascal Wassong, who finds a nice B2/3/12! Cornel starts working on the D2 category and finds a D2/4/8 and a D2/5/9! On another note, I just received a fantastic .pgn, by Mario Richter (thank you!), of all the results of the previous tournament! You can download it here. To use it, you can download the free ChessBase Light, which is very good.

02 July, 09:03

And our previous team members arrive one after the other! :-) If there was a team competition for such tournaments, we could probably assemble a Dream Team... Ivan starts strongly with an A2/5/22/1!

02 July, 08:08

Ralf starts the B1 category with a very nice B1/12/30!

01 July, 09:07

Welcome to Nicolas Dupont! So, first surprise of the tournament, Ralf and Nicolas both find different, and quite nice matrices: B2/3/8 and B2/4/16! Looking at the titles of my emails this morning I was practically sure that both probably found the same, but no...

01 July, 01:57

Ok, going to sleep now, good night to all!

01 July, 01:39

Ralf is not far behind and also finds a B2/4/12!

01 July, 01:25

Cornel starts the exploration, and finds a B2/4/12!

01 July, 00:55

Welcome to Ralf Krätschmer! He enters the circle, and also finds a B2/3/7! I am hesitating about giving all the different versions, in the low dimension, when they are quite close to one another. I will not, unless very different. Otherwise we will end up with tens of versions for the low dimensions :-)

01 July, 00:45

Cornel also starts the D2 category with a D2/3/4...

01 July, 00:23

And we have our first entry by Cornel! A B2/3/7... :-)

01 July, 00:00

GONG! Good luck to all!

30 June, 23:07

Soon the beginning... prepare your loved ones that you are going on a journey of two months, in a mind madness trip! You may come back with a few neurons missing, but that is ok, it is a sacrifice for the sake of... hmm... for the sake of what exactly?! a yes, fun :-)

29 June, 10:40

And we have our first entry... Welcome to Cornel Pacurar! He solves the first puzzle! Two days left before the start... ok, those of you who participated in the previous one probably already have the reserve of coffee, tea, bars of chocolates and Chips packages, those of you who haven't, well, you know what to do now... :-)

28 June, 20:00

Ok, let's warm up with a nice little puzzle!

26 June, 19:51

"Hello World!"

Competitor

Number of moves

Number of pieces

Number of promoted pieces in the initial position

Date of sending

Arno Tüngler

72

18

6

27/07/2008 at 10:38

Ivan Skoba

63

18

6

27/08/2008 at 20:34

Ion Murarasu

62

15

4

19/07/2008 at 22:04

Jean-Christian Galli

60

14

4

25/08/2008 at 23:57

Cornel Pacurar

55

19

7

31/08/2008 at 06:56

Alexandre Leroux

53

18

7

13/07/2008 at 04:43

Pascal Wassong

52

16

3

11/07/2008 at 11:06

Ralf Krätschmer

43

8

1

07/07/2008 at 23:27

Competitor

Number of moves

Number of pieces

Date of sending

Arno Tüngler

56

16

01/08/2008 at 11:54

Ion Murarasu

53

15

27/07/2008 at 09:00

Ivan Skoba

50

17

20/08/2008 at 15:14

Pascal Wassong

48

15

10/07/2008 at 23:13

Cornel Pacurar

39

14

31/08/2008 at 21:38

Ralf Krätschmer

38

7

05/07/2008 at 19:47

Jean-Christian Galli

38

7

25/08/2008 at 23:57

Competitor

Number of moves for both solutions (high, high-1 by default)

Number of pieces

Number of promoted pieces in the initial position

Date of sending

Arno Tüngler

34

19

3

25/08/2008 at 04:08

Cornel Pacurar

31

15

4

18/08/2008 at 20:37

Ralf Krätschmer

29

10

1

29/07/2008 at 01:13

Jean-Christian Galli

29

10

1

25/08/2008 at 23:57

Competitor

Number of moves for both solutions
(high, high-1 by default)

Number of pieces

Date of sending

Arno Tüngler

30

15

23/08/2008 at 08:54

Alexandre Leroux

29

16

08/07/2008 at 18:43

Ion Murarasu

29

16

31/07/2008 at 13:36

Ralf Krätschmer

29

16

29/08/2008 at 11:05

Cornel Pacurar

27

9

15/08/2008 at 07:22

Jean-Christian Galli

27

9

24/08/2008 at 23:57

Competitor

Number of records

Arno Tüngler

21

Ion Murarasu

11

Ralf Krätschmer

6

Jean-Christian Galli

6

Competitor

Number of records

Arno Tüngler

13

Cornel Pacurar

8

Ralf Krätschmer 

8

Jean-Christian Galli

6

Ion Murarasu

5

Number of pieces in total in the initial position

Competitors

Number of moves

Number of promoted pieces in the initial position

4

5

6

7

8

Ralf Krätschmer, Jean-Christian Galli

43

1

9

Jean-Christian Galli

48

2

10

Ion Murarasu 

Arno Tüngler

51

1

11

Arno Tüngler

54

2

12

Arno Tüngler

60

2

13

Arno Tüngler

62

2

14

Arno Tüngler

63

3

15

Arno Tüngler

65

4

16

Arno Tüngler

69

5

17

Arno Tüngler

71

6

18

Arno Tüngler

72

6

19

Number of pieces in total in the initial position

Competitors

Number of moves

3

Pascal Wassong, Axel Gilbert, Arno Tüngler, Ralf Krätschmer, Ivan Skoba, Cornel Pacurar, Ion Murarasu, Mario Richter

12

4

Pascal Wassong, Ivan Skoba, Ion Murarasu, Arno Tüngler, Jean-Christian Galli

Axel Gilbert, Ralf Krätschmer, Arno Tüngler, Ivan Skoba, Pascal Wassong, Ion Murarasu, Cornel Pacurar

Pascal Wassong, Arno Tüngler

Ralf Krätschmer

Pascal Wassong

Ivan Skoba

18

5

Ralf Krätschmer, Jean-Christian Galli

Pascal Wassong, Ivan Skoba

Ion Murarasu, Arno Tüngler

Ralf Krätschmer

26

6

Ralf Krätschmer, Jean-Christian Galli

31

7

Ralf Krätschmer, Jean-Christian Galli

38

8

Ion Murarasu, Arno Tüngler

41

9

Arno Tüngler

44

10

Ion Murarasu, Arno Tüngler

48

11

Ion Murarasu, Arno Tüngler

50

12

Ion Murarasu, Arno Tüngler

51

13

Ion Murarasu, Arno Tüngler

52

14

Arno Tüngler

53

15

Arno Tüngler

54

16

Arno Tüngler

56

17

18

19

Number of pieces in total in the initial position

Competitors

Number of moves

Number of promoted pieces in the initial position

4

5

6

7

Ion Murarasu, Ralf Krätschmer, Arno Tüngler, Cornel Pacurar, Jean-Christian Galli

24

1

8

9

10

Arno Tüngler, Ralf Krätschmer, Cornel Pacurar, Jean-Christian Galli

29

1

11

12

13

14

Arno Tüngler

30

1

15

Arno Tüngler

31

2

16

Arno Tüngler

32

3

17

18

19

Arno Tüngler 

34

3

Number of pieces in total in the initial position

Competitors

Number of moves

3

Arno Tüngler, Ralf Krätschmer, Ion Murarasu, Pascal Wassong, Cornel Pacurar, Ivan Skoba

9

4

Arno Tüngler, Ralf Krätschmer, Ion Murarasu, Pascal Wassong, Cornel Pacurar, Ivan Skoba

12

5

Ralf Krätschmer, Arno Tüngler, Ion Murarasu, Cornel Pacurar, Jean-Christian Galli

17

6

Ralf Krätschmer, Arno Tüngler, Ion Murarasu, Cornel Pacurar, Jean-Christian Galli

22

7

8

Arno Tüngler, Ralf Krätschmer, Cornel Pacurar, Jean-Christian Galli

25

9

Arno Tüngler, Ralf Krätschmer, Cornel Pacurar, Jean-Christian Galli

27

10

11

12

13

14

15

Arno Tüngler

30

16

17

18

19

Puzzle

Statement

Competitors

1

Is it possible to place 5 coins in such a way that each one touches the other 4? If yes, how, if not, why.

Cornel Pacurar, Mario Richter

2

Given a cube of 3x3x3 (cubic) units. A carpenter wishes to cut it up into 27 units. He can do that easily in 6 straight cuts. Can he do it in less, by rearranging the parts after each cut?

Cornel Pacurar, Axel Gilbert

3

Given the following diagram. Is it possible to place the 8 digits 1, 2, ..., 8 in the circles, in such a way that no two circles directly connected by a line have two digits whose absolute difference is 1? If yes how, if not, why.

Cornel Pacurar, Axel Gilbert

4

Given the following diagram, of 5 squares, made up of 16 segments. Move just 2 segments, to make 4 squares, where no segment is left without purpose. Find 2 solutions (there are more), one of which must have 4 small squares, and the other one not.

Cornel Pacurar, Pascal Wassong, Axel Gilbert, Mario Richter

5

A man pushes his car. Upon reaching an hotel, he knows he is bankrupt. Why? And yes, it can be reached by an insight :-) A colleague at work found it relatively rapidly (I was quite impressed), and a second one got the inspiration while driving home! When thinking about the solution, one just knows it must be it. Yes/no/irrelevant questions can be asked if stuck.

Cornel Pacurar, Mario Richter, Ralf Krätschmer 

6

A man drives his car in a very wild and rainy weather. He stops at a bus stop and sees three persons. One very old lady, who is very sick, almost dying. Another one is a very good friend of his, who once saved his life. And a third who looks like she is his ideal women, and could become his life-long partner. Unfortunately he only has place for just one more person in his car. What does he do? And no, this is not a psychological question, trying to figure you out, but a most elegant lateral puzzle :-)

Cornel Pacurar, Arno Tüngler

7

Here is a nice and quite elegant problem, a little bit more mathematical than usual. It is from the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge contests: Five "bars" (i.e., closed intervals), each of length p, are to be placed on the number line to cover the infinite set of points: 1, 1/2, 1/3, ..., 1/n, ... (in the interval 1 to 0) What is the minimum length p which permits this to be accomplished? There is actually practically no math involved, it needs mostly some logic reasoning :-)

Cornel Pacurar

8

A person likes his coffee relatively hot, and warmed up for around one minute in the microwave. Yet, every morning, he sets his oven to exactly 64 seconds. Why?

9

In Lateralia, there are 4 main towns, each on a border of a square 10 km wide (A, B, C, D respectively clockwise). The president of the country wanted to link all those towns with a new route. But as the country is quite poor, they need to do it with the least amount of money. Now the engineers came up with three alternatives:

- A square route going from A to B to C to D and back to A.
- A route going from D to A to B to C
- A route made of two straight lines, one going from A to C, and the other one from B to D.

Of course, the last one seems the best as it needs the least amount of material. But when presented to the country's financial counselor, he scolded them. Why?

Cornel Pacurar