january 19 2021

For this new year, the Mestre had a difficult start on Teams, but once launched, such beautiful lines to delight the audience.

Probably because of the cold, the neurons frozen, and confined no doubt, only the hard core warriors used extreme conditions were present.

Below is the Master's report written without mittens.

Master's words

For this new year (of grace?) and new decade, courage against the madmen of all kinds. After all, hope is "despair overcome" (G. Bernanos). Thank you to all our friends, it is thanks to their loyalty (which, as Saint-Exupéry said, is a citadel) that this course continues.

And let's not forget: diamonds (of our course) are forever! RIP Sean Connery.

"If you stand by me, I will never grow old" (Genghis Khan).

"You will be protected by the new technology -- The best weapon is the brain -- Times have changed -- For some" (Rambo 2 in 1985).

"God delivers us from the venom of the snake, the fang of the tiger and the vengeance of the Afghan. Do you understand what that means? -- that you better not to annoy them?" (Rambo 3, 1988).

"I think God loves a crazy men" (ibidem).

"Who do you capture this man for? God? -- No, God would have mercy, he would not" (ibidem).

"I hope that one day we will play together in heaven" (Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, in memoriam Diego Maradona, the cosmic kite).

"Let Macron, Castex, Véran and all the others vaccinate themselves first to establish that they have indeed been sold vaccine and not pineapple juice" (F. Philippot).

"The history of humanity and of mammalian life in general is that of the integration of viruses into our genome. But never by human industrial interventionism on the whole species at once in over-reaction to an essentially non-lethal infection for the host" (J. Son-Forget).

"To be "dans le vent " is a dead leaf ambition" (Gustave Thibon, famous sentence quoted on 30-11-2020 by... the  Interior Ministry -sic of our country, without recognizing its author).

In the pawn endgame, three linked passed pawns constitute a frightening force. If the opponent has the same, the fight is bloody: the slightest mistake costs a whole point, except when you manage to transpose in the Queen endgame. Our example is a record of the number of errors per square centimetre in a book of endgames. A curiosity: Kf3, Pa5, b3 & c4 / Kc6, Pf5, g6 & h4 is a ZZ, but if you place the Pb3 on b4 & the Pg6 on g5, the side to move wins; however, by keeping the pawns on b4 & g5, but with wKg2 / bKb7, it becomes a ZZ again! Dive into this exciting universe, but with caution: multiply the pauses, as I had to do myself!

This is followed by an amusing Bishops' endgame. Two women players make a mistake, but would the "men" have done better? 3 black mistakes, 2 white on a length of 45 moves, we know "2700" who do worse.

Finally an acrobatics where the winning of a figure is necessary to win, but it does not happen as expected.

As "homework" (easier than those for January): a King facing 2 hares, a "bad" Bishop, a good Rook and a strong temptation.

The hero of our game of the day tells us interesting things in his remarkable book, already quoted in our lecture: "Chess without compromise". See http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/cat-2019/26-novembre-2019.html  

"The result of a chess game depends much less on the efforts made by the player than is generally believed. His task is thus reduced to seek the best possible moves, without worrying about the result" (A. Beliavsky).

"I am not a good coach, because I am only able to produce serious ideas in a state of high concentration, which I only achieve in a tournament game" (A. Beliavsky). 

In a Queen Gambit, a solid but not especially aggressive opening, Black begins by "equalising", as Keres advised, before looking for opportunities to play for the win. Black's attack on the Queen-side does not seem fierce, but a mistake is enough to make things go wrong. In short, a game perfectly led by Black.

Training: we start with a "Novotny" festival with no less than 6 candidate moves. Take your time and see how 5 of them are refuted, by (obviously) distinct moves. The next 3 also contain false leads. In the Mikan, everything is prepared, but... The rest is easier, with some spectacular keys.

Model mates  in the first 3#, triple "Grimshaw" in the 2nd and a very similar phenomenon in the 3rd. Then a logical 5# and the solution to the 9# given in October.

helpmate 2#: very "moral" (!) as a piece that dies in one solution mate in another! Bloodshed also in the Latvian 3# helpmate and the russian selfmate.

The list of photos (now over 800!) is with the index.

Have a good time. Zostańcie z Bogiem. Isten áldjon. Que Deus vos proteja.

Master's diagrams