On each of the last five nights, a Karsakov brother played Chess against a different Grand Master. Each brother won a different number of games, from one to five. When questioned on Saturday morning, the brothers gave the following answers.

A. "Nikolai played last night" said Boris. "Grand Master Markovich lost 4 games on Wednesday night."
B. "Rubbish!", screamed Victor. "It was the next night that Markovich lost 3 games. My opponent was Grand Master Karsokovich."
C. "I think you will find," interrupted Alexis, "That it was I who took on Markovich. I can't remember how many games I won but I know it was 2 more than my brother Vladimir. Boris played against Grand Master Ivanovich the night before I played. And Tuesday my Karsokov brother could only win 1 game."
D. "Alexis you are not being honest," said Nikolai. On Thursday night my brother won four games. I won 2 more games than Boris but not against Grand Master Grigorovich."
E. "Alexis," chimed in Vladimir, "Your words are false as always. And it was Grand Master Petrovich who played on Thursday."

Each brother is either a consistent truth teller or a total liar.
On what night did each of the brothers play, who was their Grand Master opponent and how many games did each brother win.

(In reply to re: Solution - spoiler by Magda)

Magda, I have encountered the same thing in other logic problems, and I agree that the statement is logically neutral.

When I analyze the sentences in question closer, I see the phrases that led me to the conclusion:

"Boris played against Grand Master Ivanovich the night before I played. And Tuesday my Karsokov brother could only win 1 game."

If the word "Tuesday" had been left out, then I would perceive that Alexis speaks of Boris. But since "the night before I played" and "Tuesday" are used so close to each other, I infer that Alexis is actually speaking of two different days, and therefore, two different brothers. It would be be highly unusual in English to refer to the same day in two different ways (although it does not violate any grammar rules).

Well, at any rate, it is a difficult passage, as it is logically neutral and grammatically confusing! I don't believe the puzzle can be solved without knowing what is meant by those two sentences.

Posted by Sara on 2006-02-19 20:44:45