You, white, are to play and force checkmate in 7 moves. To be
forced into checkmate in 7 moves means black must play his
strongest defense, and cannot respond in any way that permits white
to mate in fewer than 7 moves.
Once you solve the chess problem, to get the coordinates of the
cache, multiply together all 14 of the 7 column numbers and the 7
row numbers of the 7 squares the white pieces were moved to in
forcing the mate. Multiply this out by hand (or in Excel), since
many calculators are only good to 8 digits instead of the 10 digits
you’ll end up with.
I see now (8/11/10) that there are two ways to mate in 7. Only
the way that results in the lower valued product of the seven white
moves will give the correct coordinates.
If the sum of of the 10 digits is 54, you probably have the
right solution.
The cache’s latitude is 42 degrees and the first 5 digits
divided by 1000, plus 4.630 minutes.
The cache’s longitude is 84 degrees and the second 5
digits divided by 1000, minus 41.779 minutes.
Look for the ammo box in “the giant black-queen’s
crown”.
The coordinates atop the page are not of the cache but are of a
pizza place in Jackson where a chess club meets Thursday evenings.
You could get some help there.
Don’t fail to record the coordinates of where you park for
the search. You’ll be in a big woods where you may want to
use your GPSR to help find the direct way back out. There’s a
public parking area. Some places in the woods are steep and off
trail; you’ll appreciate a head-high hiking stick.
The puzzle is from “More Chessercizes: Checkmate!”
by Bruce Pandolfini. 300 chess problems of graded difficulty.
They’re fun. Buy the book.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com