may 18 2004

I am very lucky, knowing nothing about computers, to have a great "Doctor Feelgood" in the person of Daniel. Since I have had the pleasure of knowing him, I have confided to him a hundred times my computer breakdowns and other difficulties. He answered me in Chinese. I replied that I was not very good at foreign languages. So he would do the manipulation. And everything went well. I can never thank him enough. However, in a moment of anger towards my helpless scrap heap, I answered him one day: "As a chimpanzee, I don't always understand the language of baboons, but some things happen anyway". Well, that was it, in essence. Maybe the two animals were switched. In any case, please forgive me for this observation.

Let's intensify the training we started a couple of weeks ago, this time with three directs, one of which, the first 4#, seems to me to be really tough. I'll complete it with an easy helpmate to give you a rest.

Reminder: as a matter of principle, solutions to problems are almost never given in the minutes, unlike in studies and the abundant comments of parties. This is to oblige readers of good will (there is one every ten years) to look, at least a little, for the said problems. It goes without saying that I can alleviate their suffering by giving such and such a solution on express request. Good luck.

If it gives you too much work, don't complain, because as Malherbe said: those who have a task never have time to be foolish.

An equal material which leads to a nice mate with Rook and Knight against Queen. Then a rook final with one pawn less and, one would say, soon a 2nd one. And yet one wins. At the 2nd move of the Lyon amusette, as the former French champion Jacques Maklès would have said, 

"we don't threaten anything, but with force"!

The last study, though almost a century old, is dedicated to the theorists of Black correction: a piece plays ad libitum, notices a defect and corrects its finishing square, notices another one and corrects it again, and so on. Sometimes one goes up to the 4th or 5th degree. We will be satisfied with 3.

The game of the day is historic, although played at a surreal rhythm for a world championship, with postponement to the 16th (!) move and 48 (!) hours of interruption. There is still talk of the 10th game and the controversial rules of this event. But we forget that the 7th game was the most exciting and perhaps the real turning point of the match. A fantastic lesson in composure. The best defender in the world was also the best defender... for his title!

Have a good read, enjoy the game.

Master's diagrams