june 27 2023
In this last session before holidays, the usual listeners were present, plus the rather brief return of our friend Pierre.
Beautiful dissecting of 2 endgames in solution of the exercises of the last course, and then the traditional game of the day, which, to say the least, was very lively, with listeners quick to add fuel to the fire, it's possible that the fire is still smoldering.
No exercise for the holidays, as the Master wants his audience to get some rest over the summer!
Good reading to all.
P.S.: The next course is scheduled as usual for late September/early October.
Master's words
"The most pessimistic judgment about man and things, and life and its value, accords wonderfully with action and the optimism it demands; this is European" (P. Valéry).
"Every day I learn to hope" (Françoise Hardy).
"The educated teenager takes much longer than the ignorant teenager to become a man. It's undoubtedly education - our century's superstition - that's causing the crisis of infantilism that today's humanity is showing all the signs of. Our society lacks the solid substructure of illiterates that makes for strong races" (R. Poulet).
"The difference between a jerk and a thief: the thief, from time to time, rests" (J.-P. Belmondo in "Le guignolo").
"I'm a war veteran, a socialist activist and a bistro owner. That's how much bullshit I've heard in my life...". (Robert Dalban in "Un idiot à Paris").
"If a man and a woman who love each other are like two halves of an apple, two men who love the same woman are like two halves of a pear" (S. Guitry).
"You can avenge someone, but avenge yourself: no! ... Never be among those who hate, rather among those you hate: you're in better company there" (S. Guitry).
"To grant man rights without imposing duties is to corrupt him. To impose duties without recognizing rights is to debase him" (Ph. Pétain).
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than whole armies ready for battle. If the American people ever allow private banks to control their currency, they will deprive the people of all possessions, first through inflation, then through recession, until the day their children wake up, homeless and roofless, on the land their parents conquered." (Th. Jefferson en 1802).
"When truth is not free, freedom is not true" (R.-L. Berclaz).
"The misfortune of men comes from one thing only, which is not knowing how to rest in a room" (B. Pascal).
Our two Bishops' endgames, from games that were actually lost, could have been saved... by the same idea, an action by the defending King towards the part of the chessboard furthest from the opponent's pawn promotion square!
The brilliant Buster Keaton ("the man who never laughs": see the 10-03-2020 lesson) study composition shows us a tactical imbroglio leading, against all odds, to a reciprocal zugzwang. Then a battle of two Rooks against... two future Queens. No exercises next time: vacation!
Our game of the day bears some resemblance to the previous one: White misses several wins, a Black move is praised by the media even though it saves nothing and... Black wins against all odds. As a side note, a near namesake of your master bucket forces resigning on the 33rd move of the man who would become world champion 3 years later!
Note that in the variation on the 31st black move, we find my favorite theme: the switch between good and bad move depending on the location of the black Queen. And also on the 33rd black move, but this time everything depends on the white Queen.
For Bedrich Formánek's 90th birthday, we're paying tribute to his very funny book "Šachové žarty" (chess jokes) a little late on April 1st.
Training: exceptionally, we leave the solution of the first two 2#s, to revive a famous 1955 controversy! The 3rd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th & 11th have tests. Two very fine 3# by Charles Planck, probably less well known than Max the physicist, but just as distinguished. The second is less arduous and, in a variant, reminiscent of Berger and Moravec: explanation on request.
An entertaining French 6# with twin. helpmates 2# with promotions of our national hero. The 4# helpmate with two solutions is easy for a human, but tortured a certain problem engine. The selfmate 2# (from the 19th century) has a variant that I particularly like. The 4# one isn't very difficult... provided you have the right diagram, which wasn't the case in the first edition of the World Championship book (this has been rectified in the 2008 edition). We'll leave you with the solution to the last one (in 5), with its three-quarter Pickaninny and 3 model mates.
Don't miss this short report on the French resolution championship, under the motto "never two without three". ! http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/concours-de-solutions/cat-2023/championnat-de-france-2023.html And no more the rejuvenation of the 4 games of the "Complement", especially the 2nd http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/complement/kasparov-karpov.html : enough to give some people a little alacrity !
Céline, sick, cancels everything. Anyway, "I pray you'll be allright" to quote her https://youtu.be/ENvh4EjVAoU Let's console ourselves all the same : https://youtu.be/WdYaGt_sm3Q We don't say goodbye !
Have a nice treat, happy summer. Niech Bóg was błogosławi.
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