WHITE
White to play, and mate in three moves.
A SMART SCHOOLBOY
The question, “How many times can 19 be subtracted from a million?” was set by an examiner, who no doubt expected that the answer would be obtained by dividing a million by 19. One bright youth, however, filled a neatly-written page with repetitions of
| 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
| 19 | 19 | 19 |
| 999,981 | 999,981 | 999,981 |
and added at the foot of the page, “N.B.—I can do this as often as you like.”
There was a touch of unintended humour in this, for, after all, the boy gave a correct answer to a badly worded question.