january 5 2010
For this first session of the year, I join the Master for the 2010 wishes with, as usual, many checks and problems.
There was no strike (for once), but only the legal minimum of audience was present yesterday to which had been added 2 new elements who had braved the weather.
As is customary, the Master's electronic report is at the end of the "textual" version.
To warm up a little, a little study where the beginning is not too hard but afterwards, you have to play it fine.
1 - White to play and draw
8/5k1K/8/4R3/4p3/pb6/8/8
W. : Kh7 Ré5
B. : Kf7 Bb3 Pé4a3
= (2+4)
Beware of the third move!
For the continuation, another study with a little more material.
A small marvel of construction and precision in the variants chiselled with a scalpel
2 - White to play and win
8/8/3kN3/1P4p1/4P3/7n/3K4/8
W. : Kd2 Né6 Pb5é4
B. : Kd6 Nh3 Pg5
+ (4+3)
To be savoured as a dish of great delicacy
Health and beauty, in Chess and elsewhere, for 2010. As a subsidiary wish, may you escape the swindlers of all kinds, especially legal ones, with which our country is infested.
After an effect-rich 2# helpmate, two very distinct but comparable 5.5# helpmates : one is more difficult, the other marks an original contrast between the two solutions. A former French champion clearly prefers the first. And a 10# helpmate solved in 30 seconds by Rémy. Half of the helpmates in this session come from a Saint-Lazare regular, unfortunately absent this evening, whose phenomenal progress continues.
The directs are a tribute to a great not enough known composer, P.F. Blake, more than a quarter of a century after the article I had devoted to him in the "Revue des Echecs". In the form of three mats in three. The easiest (the only one?) is the 2nd. I add to them an amusing 4# by a retired French composer (easy but not trivial) and a long German problem dedicated to the great Vukcevic.
An amusement that tends to be dropped too soon. A brilliant Cavaliers final reminiscent of Halberstadt and Ban already presented. A Q+B/Q from the great Belgian specialist where the demolition is, in a way, more interesting than the solution. Finally, to rest, the nice (and ultra-simple) twins of Sackmann, published in Echecs-Hebdo 30 years ago, but I suppose you forgot...
Strange game of the day, where the virtual game is not far from winning over the real one, the fire being on the chessboard in both cases. The audience was equipped with sharp picks to demolish the analyses of the master builder, who was a bit overwhelmed. But he maintains that 18 Qe2! was necessary. And on 18...Qf4, either 19 Bg4 Nd3+ 20 Qxd3 Bxg4 21 Qe3 (simpler than Qg3), or Shirov's 19 Rg3, with the finesse 23 bxc5! as already mentioned. As for Daniel's 23 Bh5 in the 19 Nf7+ variation, it runs up not only against the greedy 23...Qxh5 as suggested by the speaker, but especially against the Fritzian 23...Qg2!!, preferring to maintain the material equality to crush the White King.
The infernal rhythm has resumed: see you next Tuesday 12 January, God willing.
Have a good feast
AV
In the one that follows, you need to have your eyes on the whole board to avoid nasty surprises
3 - White to play and win
7k/2q5/8/5K2/7B/5Q2/8/8
W. : Kf5 Qf3 Bh4
B. : Kh8 Qç7
+ (3+2)
Not too hard, but careful all the same
For the 4th, a little relaxation with a twin study
4 - White to play and win
5r1k/7P/6P1/6NK/8/8/8/8
W. : Kh5 Ng5 Ph7g6
B. : Kh8 Rf8
+ (4+2)
b) Ng5 <--> Kh5
The game of the day is a beautiful fight where the black player shows that he is well endowed, which we had never doubted
5 - game of the day
1.d4 Nf6 2.ç4 g6 3.Nç3 Bg7 4.é4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.Bg5 Qé8 7.Bé2 Na6 8.Nf3 é5 9.d5 Nh5 10.g3 f6
a novelty at the time
11.g4 (a good reaction within the complications) f×g5 12.g×h5 g×h5 13.N×g5 Qé7 14.Rg1 Qf6 ! 15.Rg2 Kh8 16.B×h5 (without fear and reproach !) Bh6 17.h4 Nç5 18.b4 ?
18 Qe2! Qf4 19 Rg3 and White is doing quite well
Qf4 !
the black player puts the material on the table
19.Né2 ? (19 bc? Qxh4 but better was 19 Nf7+ Rxf7 20 Bxf7 Bh3 21 Rg3 Nxe4 22 Rf3 with a small black advantage) Q×h4 20.Nf7+ R×f7 21.B×f7 Bh3 22.Rh2 N×é4 23.Qd3 Bd2+ 24.Kd1 B×b4 ? (Nxf2+!) 25.Rb1? (the shepherd's answer to the shepherd 25 Kc2 ! Nxf2 26 Qf3) Bf5 !!
26.Qf3 Qg5 27.Rb2 Nç3+ 28.Ké1 N×é2+ 29.R×b4 Nd4 0-1
For the restoration part, and in the absence of Guy, the Master was able to get 2 problems out of his bag
6 - #2 Anticirce
r4bRd/6pb/4r3/5P1B/3p2PN/p2K3k/5B1N/4Q3
W. : Kd3 Qé1 Rg8 Bh5f2 Nh4h2 Pf5g4
B. : Kh3 Qh8 Ra8é6 Bf8h7 Pg7d4a3
‡2 (9+9)
Anticirce : the capturing piece is reborn on its original square, if this one is free, otherwise the capture is illegal
A very aesthetic problem.
And to finish, a very elegant Peter Harris
7 - h#3,5 Transmuted Kings with Equihoppers
8/2p1Y3/8/8/3bk3/8/2K5/2r5
W. : Kç2 Eqé7
B. : Ké4 Rç1 Bd4 Pç7
h‡3,5 (2+4)
helpmate 3,5 moves : Black helps white to checkmate them. 3.5 means that white begins
Transmuted Kings : the King catches the march of the piece that puts him in check
wx=Equihopper : a piece that needs a sautoir to move and that makes an equipollent movement behind the sautoir.
Eqé7 can go to a7, c1 and é1
Note: the White King is in check in the initial position
This first report of the year being finished, it remains for me to wish you good reading and to give you an appointment next Tuesday for the most courageous or Wednesday for the most frigid
Yours sincerely
le greffier
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