may 14 2013
For this last "normal" lesson of the season, two elements were added to the usually small audience of which the course was used to.
They were, of course, overwhelmed by the quality of the Master's selection.
To warm you up, here is the exercise from the previous session:
Note that the competition statement for this position was: "find the 3rd white move".
1 - Exercise from the previous session: white to play and draw
Sergeï Nikolaevich TKACHENKO
1Q6/8/8/3R4/8/5p2/8/q3bK1k
W : Kf1 Qb8 Rd5
B : Kh1 Qa1 Bé1 Pf3
= (3+4)
1 Qb2 !!
1 Qd8 (or Qd6) Bd2+ with a pure checkmate
1 Qa7 Ba5+ and Qg1+
1 ... Qxb2 2 Rh5+ Qh2 and there, the killing move : 3 Rh4!!
If you want to prolong the fun : 3 ... f2 4 Rh5 !!! which kills a second time
Great, isn't it?
For the next step, only one study, but what a study !
2 - white to play and draw
Sergiy DIDUKH
1st prize L. Loshinsky & E. Umnov-100 Memorial, Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsiya
b2N4/8/8/1ppq1P2/4p2k/1PP5/3pP1Bp/3Q3K
W : Kh1 Qd1 Bg2 Nd8 Pf5b3ç3é2
B : Kh4 Qd5 Ba8 Pb5ç5é4d2h2
= (8+8)
When the acknowledged saboteurs of Parisian transport services don't strike before the lesson, they strike back afterwards. The meal having ended some twenty minutes earlier than usual, I thought it smart to forgo my traditional night bus for a more orthodox metropolitan connection. Brilliant idea, which nevertheless supposed that I wouldn't have to wait 43 minutes for the damn metro at Châtelet station. It serves me right. When people are not to be trusted, they should not be trusted. It's simple though.
This series of helpmates is a bit more difficult, but springtime brings new ardour. The 3rd problem has an almost trivial solution, but the other one?
The first 3# has a non model chameleon echo after a surprising key. Too bad a 3rd variant is wrong. The second is of the spectacular kind. The third is futuristic, with its two pairs of different contents, as in a helpmate. The fourth is... subtle, with 6 variations.
An easy 4# to catch your breath. Another very different one. Another easy one from a great study composer. And two 6#, one with an echo and the other monovariant.
Getting straight to the point is recommended in a solving competition. Do not drown in the multiple attempts of a complex study. Easy to say. The organiser of the Kiev tournament, himself a former world champion, didn't mince his words. But he didn't ask for much: just to give the third white move!
Are we having fun with queen sacrifices? A simple appetizer to bring a ZZ to the Bishops' endgame, certainly, but a sumptuous intro, especially if one thinks of so many modern works where meaningless moves are added to hide a tablebasic ZZ. A study in honour of a... great problemist and a great populariser of the problem, author of three essential books. By a... great study composer.
To close our series on this great player (although a little extra might be in order in 2013-14), a sacrificial game, a relative rarity for this world champion, unlike others. Note that the move by which the scandal arrives (...dxc4!) is the same as the one in the 9th of Merano, played two years later, but four moves earlier!
Note the variation from the audience's picks: 14 Bxg4 Bxg4 15 h3! Qh4! 16 c5!! which seems to lead to a draw.
See you, God willing, for the fairytale session in three weeks, on Tuesday 4 June.
Have a good time.
AV
3 - game of the day Timman - Karpov (Montréal 1979)
1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e5 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 e3
the famous 4 d4 e4 5 Ng5 Fb4 etc ... has already been pointed out by Daniel a little while ago and it is quite dynamic, even if a refutation has been placed by L.Psakhis I guess.
4 ... Be7 5 d4 cd 6 Nxd4
6 ed d5 7 cd Nxd5 8 Bd3 was played not long ago.
6 ... 0-0
6 ... Bb4 was played in 2011
7 Nxc6
7 Be2 d5! 8 cd Nb4! 9 e4 Nxe4 10 Nxe4 Qxd5 with Qxd4 and Qxe4 in the air
7 ... bc 8 Be2 d5 9 0-0 Bd6 10 b3 Qe7 11 Bb2 dc
11 ... Qe5 12 g3 Bh3 13 Re1 dc 14 Bxc4 Bb4 15 Nd5
12 bc ?
After 12 Bxc4, the White King is a bit in the air, but it can still play
12 ... Rb8 13 Qc1 ?!
13 Rb1 Rxb2
13 ... Ng4! 14 g3
14 Bxg4 Bxg4 15 Re1 Rb4 16 Ne2 c5 17 Nf4 Rfb8
14 ... Re8 15 Nd1 Nxh2 16 c5 Nxf1! 17 cd Nxg3 18 fg Qxd6 19 Kf2 Qh6 ! 20 Bd4 Qh2+ 21 Ke1 Qxg3+ 22 Kd2 Dg2 23 Nb2 Ba6 24 Nd3 Bxd3 25 Kxd3 Rbd8 26 Bf1 Qe4+ 27 Kc3 c5 ! 28 Bxc5 Qc6 29 Kb3 Rb8+ 30 Ka3 Re5!
30 ... Re4 31 Bd4 Qd6+ 32 Qc5 Re5!!
31 Bb4 Qb6 resigns
sorry for the minimal analysis, you will find all the material in the Master's electronic version
To attack the restaurant portion without putting off our unaccustomed participants, the Master makes a passage through Checkless Chess
4 - #2 Checkless Check
8/P7/K7/8/k7/rq6/p7/8
W : Ka6 Pa7
B : Ka4 Qb3 Ra3 Pa2
‡2 (2+4)
Checkless Check : the only check allowed is checkmate
To help the uninitiated: White is threatened with Qb5#, Kb4+ is illegal.
So White promotes to free the a7-square, but which promotion?
If we promote to the Rook, we will have trouble making 2 Rc4#.
In Queen, Black mate by 1 ... Qb6#, with Kxb6 checking without giving mate
Only Knight and Bishop remain.
Your turn to play
And now a rather particular kind: the half-check
5 - #2 half-check with twin
Diyan KOSTADINOV
10° Sake, Crète 2010
1st Prize
6B1/2rp4/3k2b1/N1r5/3N4/5q2/2K4B/2Q5
W : Kç2 Qç1 Bg8h2 Na5d4
B : Kd6 Qf3 Rç7ç5 Bg6 Pd7
h‡2 (6+6)
b) Bh2-->f8
half-check : When a piece checks, it does not threaten to capture the opponent's king immediately, but must defer a move
This genre did not arouse the enthusiasm of the assembly.
Most of the known compositions were taken from the Sake tournament in Crete 2010, where our national Michel did very well.
6 - h#3,5 with neutral Grasshopper and royal Rook 2 solutions
Vito RALLO
W : Kd1
B : Gç1 rRh4
N : Gç3 : Grasshopper that can be played by either side
h‡3,5 (1+2+1)
G=Grasshopper
rR=royal Rook : piece moving as a Rook and having the role of the King (in this case the Black King in this position)
It remains for me to wish you a good reading and to give you an appointment for the magical firework on 4 June (I should probably have put the plural to firework)
Yours sincerely
le greffier
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