The Water Wheel

"The ideas of most of the mansubas were taken over and then superiorly developed and realized by the modern problemists [...]. However, there was one idea that could not be brought to fruition until over 1000 years after its birth!" (V. Petrovici, Planeta Sah, 1989)

"The Water Wheel Mansuba, a marvelous concept that has not yet been fully expressed under the modern rules of chess, was presented as a chess position of ancient times, supposedly found carved in stone," writes F. Bondarenko in his book Gallery of Chess Studies (1968). Three years later, the following study is published:

L. Shilkov
Shahmaty v SSSR
1971
Correction by A. Rusz (2026)
White wins

[FEN "bqB2n1r/1P2p2p/4p3/2P1RP1k/4Pr1P/pP3n2/Kp3Np1/b1B2N1R w - - 0 1"]

Follow this study on a dynamic board.

1. Ng3+ Kh6 2. Ng4+ Kg7 3. Nh5+ Kf7 3... Kg8 4. Nh6# 4. Nh6+ Ke8 5. Ng7+ Kd8 6. Nf7+ Kc7 7. Ne8+ Kc6 8. Nd8+ Kb5 9. Nc7+ Kb4 9... Ka5 10. Nc6#; 9... Qxc7 10. bxa8=Q +- 10. Nc6+ Kc3 11. Nb5+ Kd3 11... Kc2 12. Nb4# 12. Nb4+ Ke2 13. Nc3+ Kf2 14. Nd3+ Kg3 15. Ne2+ Kg4 16. Nf2+ Kh5 17. Nxf4+ Kh6 18. Ng4+ Kg7 19. Nh5+ Kf7 20. Nh6+ Ke8 21. Ng7+ Kd8 22. Nf7+ Kc7 23. Ne8+ Kc6 24. Nd8+ Kb5 25. Nc7+ Kb4 26. Nc6+ Kc3 27. Nb5+ Kd3 28. Nb4+ Ke2 29. Nc3+ Kf2 30. Nd3+ Kg3 31. Ne2+ Kg4 32. Nf2+ Kh5 33. Ng3#

The black king and the two chasing knights follow this path twice:

This study was published with the following initial position in Shakhmaty v SSSR 1971/1:

To eliminate the 7.cxb6+ dual, I have moved the black pawn from b6 to a3.

Let's see a mansuba with the same idea. The following position is from a manuscript kept in the British Museum, London (Add MS 7515), written in 1257. This manuscript is a compilation of earlier chess books from the 9th and 10th centuries.

Here is the diagram (I have reversed the colours, in the original, black was going to checkmate "red"):

The bishop ("alfil") and the queen ("ferz") had different movements back then. The alfil moved exactly two squares diagonally, jumping over the square between (which means d7 is attacked by the Af5). The ferz moved just one square diagonally (so the black king is not in check yet, but the c7 square is attacked by Fb8).

Follow the solution of this study on a dynamic board.