Editing Sam Loyd (section)

===Excelsior problem===
{{main|Excelsior (chess problem)}}
{{Chess diagram
|tright
|"Excelsior"
|nd|  |rd|bd|  |  |  |  
|  |pd|  |  |  |pd|  |pd
|  |pd|  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |rl|  |  |  |  |  |kl
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|pd|  |  |  |pd|  |pl|nl
|  |pl|pl|  |rl|  |  |  
|nl|  |  |  |  |  |  |kd
|Mate in 5, 2nd prize, Paris Tourney, 1867. ''See "[[Excelsior (chess problem)|Excelsior]]" for the solution.''
}}
One of his best-known [[chess problem]]s is the following, called "[[Excelsior (chess problem)|Excelsior]]" by Loyd after the poem<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1325.html |title=RPO -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : Excelsior |website=rpo.library.utoronto.ca |access-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430090202/http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1325.html |archive-date=30 April 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> by [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]]. White is to move and [[checkmate]] Black in five moves against any defense:

Loyd bet a friend that he could not pick a piece that ''didn't'' give mate in the main line, and when it was published in 1861 it was with the stipulation that White mates with "the least likely piece or pawn".
{{clear}}