october 2 2012

For this first session of the season, the current greffier has failed to fulfil his duties.
So Daniel will take over.
In the meantime, here is the Master's remarkable electronic report.
Good reading to all and see you on the 16th for new adventures.

Yours sincerely
The virtual greffier

 

The ghost-circle is back in top form. However, the recipients of this report are not ghostly, and it is to them, as well as to a few rare regulars who are present, that we address ourselves.

 Valve 
We start with an helpmate 2# with apparent play (so also an helpmate 1,5#) which will be solved by all. Daniel's training continues, followed by a report on the World Solving Championship which this year took place in Japan. There was a theoretical novelty: the best French player was present, agreeing to melt his 2700 zelo points into the skin of a simple lambda solver. This considerable event should have been the object of particular attention from the French media: EE to the calamitous editor, the FFE, etc. Well, no. Nib de nib. Bravo les guignols.Tavariani
  
Let's resume our sessions with a well-known (it's in "Endgame magic") but somewhat forgotten study, until it was submitted to the 2010 Czech Championship. You don't need to be an MVL to solve it. Enjoy the final picture. 
  
It is still possible, in the 21st century, to get a first prize with a simple 5-unit endgame with double play of the White King. At least if the type of judge in question (A. J. Roycroft) is not on the way out. I wouldn't bet on it.
Dobrescu 2In the defensive variant, the wK, instead of triangulating, trapezes. By the way, have you noticed that the usual official definition of trapeze is an insult to mathematics? 
  
The following one, by Kozlowski, is both simple and mystifying. What do you think? 
  
Rook and Knight versus Queen? That's too much, the Rook is enough: the two main draw cases (Ponziani and Berger) through two twins. 


Karpov 2

The day's game is even more impressive if, like your fake-master, one has had the extreme honour of attending it, even if it means getting up at 5 o'clock the following night to clock in to "work" thanks to the Lyon-Paris TGV. Just as I was beginning to regret my trip, a slight black error occurred, making the game exciting. When I say "black error", I obviously didn't realise on the spot that it was one. But White's player, the right man at the right place, was the only person in the world who could demonstrate that it was a mistake. Not a losing one, but one that caused some difficulty, and that created the nervousness that naturally led to a second mistake. 
  
See you, God willing, in a fortnight, on 16 October. 
  
Have a good time. 
AV

 

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