This position is from a painting of chessplaying artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1969). Francis Nauman wrote to Larry Evans in the 10/76 issue of Chess Life. According to Mr.Nauman the position (White to play and win) was unsolved, and offered a $15 reward for either an annotated solution or proof that there was no win.
Larry Evans pointed out that the direct try for a White win failed: 1.Ke4 h4 2.Kd5 h3 3.Kc6 h2 4.Rg7 Kf2 5.Rh7 Kg2 6.Kc7 Rg8 7.b8=Q Rb8 8.Kb8 h1=Q 9.Rh1 Kh1 10.Kc7 f5 11.b6 f4 12.b7 f3 13.b8=Q f2 led only to a draw.
In the 5/77 issue of Chess Life John Speights wrote to Larry Evans claiming that he had solved the problem: 1.Ke3 h4 2.Rg7 Kf1 3.Kf3 Ke1 (3...h3 4.Rh7 Kg1 5.Rc7 Kh2 6.Rf2 Kg1 7.Rf1 Kh2 8.Rb1 Rb7 9.b6 f5 10.Kf2 f4 11.Kf3 Rd7 12.b7 Rd3 13.Kf4 Rd8 14.b8=Q Rb8 15.Rb8 Kg2 16.Rb2 +-) 4.b6 h3 5.Rh7
5...Kd2 (5...h2 6.Rh2 Rb7 7.Ke3) 6.Ke4 h2 7.Rh2 Kc3 8.Kd5 Rb7 9.Kc6 Rb8 (9...Rf7 10.b7 Rf8 11.Rh4 Kd3 12.Ra4 Rb8 13.Kc7 Rf8 14.Rf4 Rf7 15.Kb6 +-) 10.Rf2 Rf8 11.Kd5 f5 12.b7 Kd3 13.Rf3 Ke2 14.Rb3 f5 15.Ke4 f3 16.Re3 Kf2 17.Rf3 Rf3 18.b8=Q and wins.
Larry Evans appreciated Mr. Speight's analysis, although he suspected that Black had a trick draw somewhere.
Enter Harry.
Harry gets consumed when he is interested in a position. He sent the position to the English problemist A. J. Roycroft, but Mr. Roycroft sent it back saying that it wasn't up his alley. Harry then showed the position to everyone in the club and got them involved in its intricies.
Harry wrote a letter to the "Ask the Masters" column in the 3/78 issue of Chess Life with the club's findings. He found a way for Black to draw from John Speights' analysis: (1.Ke3 h4 2.Rg7 Kf1 3.Kf3 Ke1 4.b6 h3 5.Rh7)
5...f5!
"...slowing down the White King's access to the e-file by one critical tempo." Harry gave a sample line: 6.Kf4 (6.Ke3 Kf1) 6...Ke2 7.Ke5 (7.Kf5 Kf3; 7.Rh3 Rb7 8.Rh6 Rf7 9.Rc6 Kd3 10.Rc7 Rf6 11.b7 Rb6 12.Kf5 Kd4=) 7...f4 8.Kd6 f3 9.Kc7 f2 10.Rf7 Rb7 11.Kb7 Ke1 and draws.
Larry Evans sent a query to John Speights, who verified the accuracy of Harry's analysis: 5...f5 6.Ke3 Kd1 (6...Kf1 7.Rh3 Rb7 8.Rh6) 7.Kd3 Ke1 8.Kd4 h2 9.Rh2 Rb7 10.Rb2 Kd1 (10...f4 11.Ke4 Rf7 12.b7) 11.Kd3 Rd7 12.Ke3 Rb7 13.Rd2 Kc1 14.Rd6 Kc2 15.Kd4 f5 16.Ke4 Kc3 17.Kd5 Rf7 18.Rc6 (18.Kc6 f3 19.b7 c2 20.Rd1 Rf6) 18...Kd3 with a draw.
Pal Benko, the master answering the question in the "Ask the Masters" column, couldn't find a win either after 5...f5! , and congratulated Harry.