march 28 2023
For this fourth session of the year, Daniel was back from the land of the rising sun and Pierre was back live from a distant land.
The Master, in top form, spoiled us with a few well-deconstructed endings, a rather demented game and some well-chosen pieces in the fairy tale.
You will find below the detailed report.
Enjoy your reading.
P.S.: the next session scheduled for 22 April
Master's words
"I didn't have time to make it any shorter". This sentence from Blaise Pascal has haunted me for more than 50 years !
"Am I in danger? -- No, the plane has refuelled, but not the pilot" ("Written on the Wind" with Lauren Bacall).
"If this continues, those who are not pederasts will be ostracized from society" ("Les doigts croisés", 1971, with Marlène Jobert).
« Make sure that the loser can feel good about having you as a winner » (Tse-Yu, 7th century BC.).
"The good thing about prejudice is that it keeps stupid ideas at bay" (N. Gomez Davila).
« There is no Boulevard Rivarol in Paris, nor a Place Charlotte Corday. But the Pantheon's mass grave is overflowing with thugs and morons » (P.-A. Cousteau).
A Knight against a Bishop, even a little inferior when the pawns are far apart, can be very dangerous, led by a world champion or... in his style; good King moves count too. Beautiful turns, especially on move 48, making generous use of the board's dimensions. Enjoy !
Two very different Georgian studies: an underpromotion rescue and a checkmate attack. Finally a Swiss amusement.
Exercises: two examples where White failed to win with an extra knight, a rescue by the great Italian studist and a Czech performance.
Our game of the day is long and particularly animated. The Polish-born French representative missed several wins against the future world champion, and finally... a save that nobody seemed to notice. Was he as "splendid but unlucky" as Mary Stuart, as he declared? Was he right to hate the endgames? An endearing personality and a great imagination. Don't miss the mini-studies of the 53rd & 59th moves, one of which reminds us of a great regular on our lesson.
Tribute to Markus Ott who has left us, with two serial helpmates, one of which is with a neutral pawn. I had skipped in 1995 on the first problem (2#) of my first congress, as well as on the 3 helpmates of which he was co-author, see http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/en/pages/lessons/cat-2022/february-8-2022.html
Training: the 2# of numbers 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11 & 12 took us a bit longer, with 5 tries for 2, 6 for 5 and 3 for 7. The 4 is of theoretical interest, if you remember http://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/en/pages/lessons/cat-2005/november-15-2005.html . The two 3# are very different: sacrifices in the first, model mates in the second. A 7# from the famous German tandem where the diagram is found in the 5th... with a small change.
I have been reproached for showing (apart from the fairy tale) mainly helpmates in 3 moves and more, forsaking the more affordable "simple" helpmate 2#. Only 5 in 2022. Let's make up for it with 3 "Abdu" including the famous nonuplets.
It follows a very nice 3# Macedonian helpmate with twin, and a long helpmate, easier than the author's name suggests. A selfmate 3# where we sacrifice 6 times in 4 variations, another in 6 where we leave the solution.
Have a good time. Adeus até à próxima.
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