june 18 2019

Responding to the call of the Master who, in this case, was more Gallic (with 2 wings on the helmet) than Gaullist on this 18th June, the listeners were there for this last course before the summer holidays and we saw the return of Pierre in excellent form, to whom Clément joined to reinforce the group.

They were not too many to tackle the part of the day which needed some brawny neurons to work out the variations

Below is the full report of the Master

Master's words

"Tenderness? But she doesn't see the difference between a gas burner and me -- he yells less.

"You'll know what my name is, you stupid bastard! -- Nice name" (N. Roquevert and G. Philipe in "Fanfan la Tulipe").

"The important thing is not to find, but to add what you find" (P. Valéry).

"Dreams are made for those who really try" (A. Gibb).    

"The delirium of lying and believing can be caught like scabies" (L.-F. Céline).

"The law no longer comes from above or even from the facts, it comes from the people: it is to lose both one's soul by substituting oneself for God, and one's spirit by refusing reality" (X. Dor).

A case of disdain for a seemingly dangerous passed pawn in favour of a mate network: even in the endgame this can happen. Two nice reciprocal zugzwangs ("ZZ") with the Troïtzky zone and its exceptions as a bonus. Then a ferocity leading to... an Olympian calm.

A festival of nonsense (especially in the comments) about a pawn endgame between two world champions, 5 years before they were handed over. ZZ fans will enjoy it again.

No exercises for the summer: holidays! Except... a small fairy tale: Kf3, Nd3 (2) / Kg8, Qb5, Rf8, Ba8, Nd1, Pc3, e3, f5, f7 (9) (J. Lörinc, 1995). We ask what the last move was: a) in normal play (easy, even if you haven't read Smullyan); b) in patrol; c) in isardam. In patrol, you can only capture or check if you are supported by a unit on your side. In isardam, two opposing units of the same nature may not observe each other. This is not difficult. Have fun!

We have already spoken about the extraordinary 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal tournament which, a few years before the Bobby Fischer tidal wave, saw the predominance of "great Russia" defeated. Not, as would be the case, by an American with a Hungarian father and a Polish mother, but by a... Dane. After the victory of the great Bent against Spassky, http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/cat-2019/16-avril-2019.html here is the one against Bronstein.

The former finalist (1951) of the world championship thought long and hard after his defeat, sensing that he had missed an interesting opportunity... which he discovered in the middle of the night! As in Costeff's case, we meet a black Queen on h8 (26th variation), but her fate is quite different. Don't miss the crazy 25th move variations.

Training: the traditional dozen of 2#. None is trivial, the 7th is a superb "Zago 3x3" (explanation on request) with no abstruse set play, the bane of this theme. The 8th is not a Zago, but of Zago, the 9th is rich in trials. The 11th was described as an "authentic masterpiece" by Roger Diot. It is true that it is a perfect "complete Ruchlis" with, also, an essay motivating the Set Play, but it has a defect that you will discover (there again, do not hesitate to correspond, it is on the top right). The 12th, old style, rests.

The 3# are strong. The 1st is also reminiscent of Zago (2x4) with two subsidiary games. The 2nd sees 2nd moves become... 3rd moves. The 3rd, from the 19th century, is perhaps not the easiest, although lighter in material. The three multimovers are easier, notwithstanding the 5# author's surname.

The helpmate 2# has a very different twin, probably added for a solution contest. It was in fact proposed, 70 years later, for the 2017 Warsaw Grand Prix. Not easy! Strategy in the 3# helpmate, model mats in the 4# helpmate (with twin). Finally, we find in the selfmate our two great Russian 3# authors for... another Zago (3x2).

Don't miss the report on the French resolution championship, which you can -- like me -- practice in your room.

Have a good time. I wish you a great summer, many aesthetic finds. See you in September. Adeus.

Master's diagrams

postscript by the Master :

I learn by accident that François Chevaldonnet died 3 years ago.
I will not be fooled into believing that none of these pseudo-pedagogues, perpetual lecturers and henchmen of the "federation" had the e-mail or the telefon of FC and could not observe an anomaly by a prolonged silence. Bunch of sneaky incompetents.
Chevaldonnet was French champion in 1976. I did not contribute little to his victory, beating in the last round a player with a one point lead. This good news allowed, with the help of shenanigans, a grouping of 5 players in the first rank, yours truly being half a point behind, in the good company of Todorčević, outgoing champion. Panic among the organisers, who had to organise a tie-breaking tournament in Nantes in November.
The gags don't stop there. The organisers, struggling to reward the winners, came up with a brilliant idea: not to give them any prize, but to endow a blitz tournament crowning the tie-break. Unfortunately, two bounty hunters came up from Paris. Yours truly, disguised as Lee van Cleef, who won the tournament with 7/7, and Abravanel, who did 5.5. Cheval also did 5.5, saving the honour, the others leaving with their tails between their legs...
On the evening of the second round, I congratulated Cheval (who had just beaten Giffard). He proposed blitzes, which I gladly accepted. After two hours, I offered him to stop, so that he could rest for the next day's game (against a known "brother" from Strasbourg). He replied that he had just beaten the only valid opponent and that he had therefore won. I burst out laughing and continued playing for at least two more hours.

Daniel :

I have a memory of the sympathetic Chevaldonnet: I was playing in a tournament in the south with other Normans and I was talking on the terrace at lunchtime about the St Lazare course and the R+B/R endgame that was so badly played.

The next day, I learned that Chevaldonnet had been looking for me for part of the evening because he had an adjournment against an Englishman with the possibility of this endgame ... which he played the next morning and lost!

I was obviously in a bar with the gang, (and in retrospect I was glad he hadn't found me as my explanations would certainly not have helped him!)
Another time when we adjourned and the Internet did not exist. In short, by definition: prehistory.