february 18 2020

No technical problems this time, so the course went off without a hitch.

The very beautiful positions presented by the Master were appreciated by the audience and the large number of fairy problems did not put off the newcomer who stayed connected until the end.

Below is the Master's report

Master's words

"To claim that revolutions are made by misery: there is no more deceptive silliness. They are the work of well-to-do people" (S. Bonmariage in 1958).

"The world is governed by quite different characters than those whose eyes do not delve into the wings imagine" (B. Disraeli).

"For the wise themselves, the passion for glory is the last to be shed" (Tacitus).

"Our slanderers: we don't know whether to be angry with them or to thank them for making a vacuum around us" (E. M. Cioran).

"Perversion is when man substitutes himself for God and begins to decide what is right and wrong. He no longer seeks the truth, since he is the truth. He no longer seeks the order of things, he decrees the order of things. In philosophy, this break with reality is subjectivism, in psychiatry it is schizophrenia, in politics it is the myth of popular sovereignty" (Xavier Dor).

"The day I am no longer heard is the day I am dead" (R. Holeindre).

""Ella elle l'a", this gift from heaven that makes her beautiful" (France Gall).

Novlangue. If a player messes up a game, we tell him: "you played like a bum". At least, that's what they used to say, because now they say: "you played suboptimal moves". It's more elegant, isn't it?

A pawn endgame between two world champions, one who played the endgame divinely, the other who despised it. No wonder the former quietly escaped from a losing situation, his one mistake not having been noticed. The only flaw is the presence of doubled pawns on the "f" file, as in a famous 1909 classic that we are replaying. Including the false win that has been repeated for a century.

Rest with a gag from the former world number 3.

A double illustration of the famous question: "where would you play your King? The good move of the White King is dictated by the threat... of a superb move by the Black King.

As exercises, a rescue attempt that will succeed, then rest with an amusement composed by... Morphy, the end of a game won by the same player, and a choice of promotions, a century and a half later.

The game of the day presents us with the aforementioned divine player, in a completely different register: sacrifice then sacrifice, then mate. Reminiscent of Capa-Bogol http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/cat-2003/7-janvier-2003.html . But the affair still ends with an endgame.

A record with 16 fairy positions!

Training: a dozen 2#. The first 3 are full of tries, as are the 5th, 6th, 7th and the last. The first 3# combines a modern theme with some nice mats, the 2nd is especially worthwhile for its key, as is the 3rd, which also shows a wealth of variations. Rest with a 4# from Nice, then a question of asymmetry. In the 8#, an animal is unleashed.

The first helpmate 2# is a duplex (there is also the W-B-W-B# sequence) containing echoing mats. It has a small economy defect, almost general in twins, already pointed out by yours truly 3 years before its publication, which does not make us any younger. The next one has 6 solutions, in the form 4+2. A curious Bishop's play from our national grandmaster. More echo-mats in the 5,5# helpmate (White starts) but also with an echo strategy. Finally a 3#-selfmate ("where would you play your rook?") and a last easy selfmate where generosity is the order of the day.

Have a good time. See you in March (the 7th and 28th?), so very soon. "We don't say goodbye! (Céline Dion). Idzcie z Bogiem.