october 12 2021

Faux-bond of the greffier gone on a binge for this first session of the 2021/2022 season.

Nevertheless, you are entitled to the Master's detailed account.

Master's words

"Mornië utúlië Believe and you will find your way Mornië alantië A promise lives within you now" (Enya).

"I woke up today I was crying Lost in a lost world" (M. Pinder). "I think to myself What a wonderful world" (L. Armstrong). Uh, don't they say the opposite of each other? That doesn't stop them from being right !

"You have a genius for disaster. Try to be a simple failure by not opening your mouth" (Lord Jim, 1965). May the frightening and calamitous "Jupiter" who, served by pitiful godillots, lobotomizes millions of French sheep, listen to this advice.

« "The non-vaccinated must vaccinate themselves in order not to contaminate the vaccinated". Think carefully about this sentence... Do they realize the absurdity of their "argumen" ? » (F. Philippot). "When it comes to abortion, it is the most important right, because "your body belongs to you", but when it comes to vaccination, then your body belongs to the whole society?" (read on internet). "We can't pray to the vaccine as if it were God" (D. Raoult).

« If someone forcibly vaccinates me, I will prosecute him for attempted murder » (Dr D. Cahill). "Vaccine is the second vector of a larger attack" (J.R. Nyquist). "The Spike protein is a killer" (Dr. P. McCullough). "A feat: you can enter the hospital if you prove that you are not sick!" (F. Di Vizio). "Yesterday revered, today fired" (a nurse). "This has gotta stop" (E. Clapton).

"He lives his life without worrying about the grimaces that the fish in the trap make around him" (H. Cristiani).

« The most civilized peoples are as close to barbarism as the most polished iron is to rust. Peoples, like metals, are only as bright as their surfaces » (A. de Rivarol).

"Everything that is useless is dangerous" (J. Bainville).

Rook endgames "always draw": this motto repeated to satiety has many exceptions, but what about pawn endings? Shouldn't they also be "always drawn", at least with equal material? But there is an important difference: we often go through the win or the loss, even on a tiny length: see White missing the draw on the 36th move, Black missing the win and... lose on the 37th!

Triangulisation, it is largely outdated! 8 years ago, we saw a real-false pentagonulation here (Ostmoe's study) : http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/tools/cb-2013/les-2.html

But (always stronger!) we contemplate today a duodecanization inspired by an Italian player not only talented (she just finished the European championship), but passionate about endgames (and ZZ!) knowing very well how to analyze them. The extension of her work had nevertheless been discovered, about 70 years ago, by a genius often quoted in our course, author of a book on Rook endgames usually bearing another signature.

Exercises for the next session: two phases of a Knight and pawn fight against two pawns, then a pawn rush against a Bishop, finally a Black Queen domination.

Bobby Fischer's "bête noire" shows us, in the famous game of the day (almost sixty years old), that White has every interest in fighting the Sicilian defense by acting on the Queen's wing, rather than on the King's wing. Karpov will continue in this vein, with the same success.

Some light retro in the "fairy" section. Then some Chinese, Locust and other goodies.

Practice: tests in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 10th 2-moves. The first 3# is rich in variants, the second one rests. Then a German 5# (we leave the solution) presenting an exceptional case where one makes two Novotny interceptions by... playing a single move! Then follows another 5#, french, having recently won some prestigious scalps.

The 2# helpmate has 4 "variants", in that the 1st black move is the same in the 4 "solutions". In the "Mister Jones" one, White starts (and thus checkmates on his 4th move). An amusing helpmate 6# from its Swedish counterpart: although dissimilar, the solutions have one thing in common.

Selfmates: the one in 3 is a bit stubby. The one in 5 of the Austrian grandmaster shows us an unusual story of the Black Queen. Enjoy the solution (after hiding it for a while) and the comments!

Coming back from Mali (& Veli) Lošinj, it was inevitable that I pay homage to the great "lion" Loschinsky, of whom there are already 13 works in our course. A "Pickalb" in 2#, a 5-cycle in 3# and his most famous 6#, where we leave the solution: enjoy the 4th move, a sacrifice on a 4 times controlled square. More soon.

Useful revision: the Lucena bridge. Also, read the report on the French resolution championship 2021, which was the scene of a great surprise. And also a new study in "Moï etyudy" (R vs R+p).

Have a good time. I wish you "aoibhneas, áthas, grá" (happiness, joy, love).