march 30 2021
In this session, the teacher did not have the slightest technical problem in reaching the virtual meeting room, nor in sharing his screen on the conference software.
So no more reticence about getting started!
The core group was there, stealthily joined by Olivier who was discreet, probably due to microphone problems.
Below is the Master's report with a superb minimalist study and a game of the day from our favourite arsonist
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Master's word
"Is it not normal and legitimate to ask: Why has an infectious disease that has lost much of its virulence since the spring of 2020 become the sole subject of concern for the government and the dominant media, while the collateral ravages of this crisis are systematically left to be forgotten? Why have the treatments - which are effective - to cure covid been denigrated and even banned, while at the same time it is claimed, in high places, that everything is being done to protect the most fragile? Why has not a single minister or doctor on TV seen fit to give the French people recommendations for stimulating their immune defences, which are after all the best bulwark against the disease? Why is a solution as risky as mass vaccination (with perfectly unpredictable health consequences) promoted to the rank of miracle solution, in defiance of all the warnings issued by many courageous and independent doctors and researchers? Why, finally, is any thought, any reflection that does not conform to the official dogma systematically excluded from the media field, when it is not purely and simply criminalised? (Alain Leduc).
"He who controls the fear of people becomes the master of their souls" (N. Machiavelli).
"... This scourge that makes us all sick The Lord journalism and its pantalonnades The daily right that a fool has to fool Three or four thousand fools at lunch" (A. de Musset speaking of the press: he did not know television, let alone the Gafamesque dictatorship).
"All that is not eternity found is lost time" (G. Thibon).
Chess are each day "less and less foreign to me and more and more unknown" (G. Thibon's formula speaking... of God!).
"The Pfizer trial will end in 2022... By then, anyone who is vaccinated will be a subject of biomedical protocol... A guinea pig. "(A. Henrion-Caude).
"We've Only Just Begun" (Karen Carpenter, no relation to the US elections, of course).
"For even before judging the criminal and the innocent, it is the judges first of all who must be brought together" (R. Brasillach, no relation to French current events, of course).
"SOS-baleines wants to save the whales, SOS-racism wants to save racism" (J. Baudrillard).
"I break and do not bend (F.R. de Lamennais).
"You give hope to thousands of people -- and who gives it to me? (Dalida's reply).
Genesis of the "master class". Dijon 1975. Your "master-bidon" comes to play the French championship. Following a complication of little interest, he decides to forfeit the championship, but nevertheless to stay on, becoming a simple journalist and enjoying the gastronomy of Dijon. And in fact, enjoying himself at the Vinarium (which seems to have survived 46 years later) in the company of Bernard Vallée, a friend for 5 years, he gladly accepted his proposal for a quasi-monthly course at the Paris Saint-Lazare railwaymen's circle (!) which he presided over, along with that of playing for the team (see testimony http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/en/pages/tools/cb-2009/les-positions-du-3-mars-2009.html : game against Julve). A decade later, one might have superficially thought that this constraint was going to prevent him from winning the title (1986-88), but it was not the case. And what a pleasure it was to meet up with his "pupils" - sic - once this chore was over!
"As far as possible". This theme was dealt with about ten times in our course and in detail on a forum, formerly of good quality. It concerns especially Rooks endgames. It is true that, in general, a rook should make the most of its "long march" quality. But exceptions are always interesting. See the first 2 examples of http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/en/pages/cours/cat-2019/october-29-2019.html and the 4th of http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/cat-2019/5-fevrier-2019.html Our example concerns a T + 2P / C + 2P fight. The "short march piece" is beaten.
The "middle ground". Another theme often discussed here, including 3 times... in the Bird-Morphy analysis-fleuve alone http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/en/pages/cours/cat-2020/january-28-2020.html And also: art imitating nature, or the other way around. It is too late to ask Mikhail Zinar if he was aware of the Neï-Taïmanov game when he composed his little jewel, but it is amusing to find the choice between the same 3 squares: f3, f4 & f5. Triumph of the "middle way" dear to Montaigne!
For relaxation, a King putting on seven-league boots, then another King willingly exposing himself to a battery, followed by a self-pinning.
Exercises for the end of April: a Hungarian grandmaster's work on Bishop and pawn against two pawns. Containing, not surprisingly, a bunch of "ZZ". A few amusing pieces to follow. Two where it is a question of mate, one where it is rather the stalemate.
In today's game, the chessboard is set on fire in a very natural way. And the virtual game is even more exciting, with the black Queen in particular in the limelight (see the continuations on the 16th, then the 19th white and black).
Training: among the 2#, of very different origins, the 1st, 3rd, 5th to 8th, 10th & 12th should take a little more time. As for the very last one, it's heads or tails: 10 seconds or 4 minutes!
A 3# where I leave you the solution, it's rare, but it's quite complex, by an unknown named Elizarov. Look at the wall chessboard: historic in the sense that the 2 best composers of the 20th century (limiting ourselves to the direct ones), apart from Havel, appear on the same photo: Loschinsky (on the right) and Rudenko (standing) as a simple student! Along with four other stars: Bron, Kazantsev, Umnov and Korolkov. It reminds me of some classes in Clichy where the average of the room was 2,450 zelo. I was a little more (really?) careful not to say (too much) nonsense.
This is followed by a Czech festival of model mates, then two 4#, including a strange and remarkable Pickaninny, where White enjoys a certain square.
In the 2# helpmate, three self-locks on the same square, then a perfect echo-chameleon in 3#. The 7# helpmate shows promotions, but it is not an AUW. Let's finish with a superb Macedonian selfmate, showing an (elongated) St Andrew's cross from the white Bishop.
Have a good time. See you in a month if Deus vult.
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