march 5 2024
For this third lesson of the year, we regretted the absence of Pierre, who was compensated by the arrival of a new listener who made rapid progress in the fairy domain.
A good part of the intro was devoted to a Rook endgame that was as difficult to win as it was to draw, but the time spent dissecting it was not in vain.
This was followed by the remaining time spent correcting the exercises from the previous session, then a fireworks display with the game of the day and finally the fairy positions duly selected by the Master. You will find the report below.
Next session on march 30
Enjoy your reading.
Master's words
"Don't make me over. Always be by my side, if I am wrong or right" (D. Warwick). https://youtu.be/nFvLcCDvdEA
"What's the difference between a spermatozoon and a Eurocrat? The former has a one in two billion chance of becoming a human being." (Ch. Pasqua). Dedicated to Mrs "The Hyena".
« We can no more ask ourselves whether 'woman' is superior or inferior to 'man' than we can ask ourselves whether water is superior or inferior to fire. » (J. Evola).
"To belong to the elite is to be a man of any background who is capable of admiring what is above him." (A. Bonnard).
"The net of justice is not the fisherman's net that lets the small through and holds back the large. The net of justice lets in the large and holds back the small." (J. Vergès).
"Will you read my novel? -- I won't. If it's bad, I'll hate it. If it's good, I'll envy it and hate it even more" ("Midnight in Paris").
"If you respond to evil with good, what will you respond to good?" (Confucius, quoted by J.-P. Marielle in "Plus ça va, moins ça va").
"The great thing is not to preach to the elements that have remained healthy; you have to seize the mass, which is anti-national" (A. Redier).
"The underbelly is the cause of man's difficulty in taking himself for a god" (F. Nietzsche).
Dedicated to farmers after the show: https://youtu.be/LYAvhujK4nA We understand each other!
"He who is everywhere is nowhere" (Seneca, quoted by B. Gelfand after his victory over Kramnik in 1994).).
In 2001, a lecture (I dare not say a "conference") was given at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, during the summer tournament, by the calamitous editor-in-chief of the French magazine with a European title. I asked him: how do you explain the development of chess in Iran, 20 years after Ayatollah Khomeini's proclamation in 1980, "Chess makes man evil". What is the position of the country's religious authorities? An even more pertinent question a quarter of a century later, with a world championship candidate of Iranian origin and a GMI of 2740, among others. Of course, I didn't get an answer, but I was seriously insulted by the aforementioned calamity 10 years later. If you have one, I'm listening.
Rook against Rook and 2 pawns, where the right defensive move must not be made too early, but preceded by a " foreplan ". The aim is to lead the attacking Rook to a square where a "small combination" can be made. Note that to the 2nd question "where would you play your Rook?", the 3 trials each have a different refutation. And also a "study within a study" with Rook and pawn against Rook. Then we change colours: a kind of twin study shows us the winning procedures available after slight modifications. With a new curiosity, after a classic "juste milieu", a sort of "injuste milieu" in 2...Ra4. And again in 4 Kf2.
The other 3 exercises for today were enjoyable, featuring the Knight: being 'the King's friend' doesn't forbid acrobatics.
For the next session, a hundred-year-old endgame of exceptional richness. A Bishop draws against a Queen, then against a Knight and two pawns.
A little Polish masterpiece. When this game was played, the White player had been grandmaster for two years, the Black player would be grandmaster two years later, but before that he would win the gold medal on the 2nd chessboard at the Buenos Aires Olympiad. He set fire on board on the 12th move, his opponent missed an acrobatic save on the 17th, and that was it!
As is often the case, you'll have good-bad reversed (our favourite theme): it's at the end of the 14 Qf3? variation, then in 23 Rg1.
Fairy: a clarification inspired by the discussion on the sparrow, whose official definition did not seem convincing, and justified a luminous explanation by Daniel on 30 March 2021. I'm offering you the whole zoo and its beautiful rose window, on the occasion of Dietrich's problem! See the whole menagerie with Caillaud here https://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/en/pages/tools/cb-2019/py-20190205.html
Training: the first 2# is ideal as an entry test for a chess school. The 2nd (like the 5th) has a multitude of trials, as do the 9th to 12th. The 4th was dedicated to H.N. Pillsbury to celebrate his victory at Hastings 1895, but also for another reason I'll let you guess. The last 3 2# were presented at the Ohrid 2018 solving-show.
Three blocking mates in the first 3#: the black piece takes an escape square. An active and generous Queen in the second, as in the 4#. At ease with a helpmate in... 1 move (with 5 solutions)! Then the next part of the tribute to the world's best editor, working with... the world's best composer of helpmates! Bishops are the heroes in these 3 problems.
A curious selfmate 2# with a few false tricks. Again in 3# a generous Queen and finally a Gamni where the solution stuck.
Last minute: the traditional Cannes Games Festival tournament (the only interesting one) was happy to welcome the delightful Anna Shukhman who, at the age of 15, preceded 7 world champions and 14 grandmasters in the last world problem-solving championship. You know: the problems that our French pseudo-pedagogues say 'waste time'. That's clearly not the opinion of Anna, who has already beaten Koneru, Krush, Zhu Jiner and other stars. мои самые теплые комплименты. By the way, my friend Piotr Murdzia, multiple world champion, is to everyone's surprise (!!) the new Polish champion.
I also learn that the oldest grandmaster in the world (just a few months shy of his 97th birthday) is Andreas Dückstein, star of this class. april 12 2016 (e-monsite.com) A different stature from the super grozelos of today, who, although very young, no longer like chess and are only interested in blitz (who do you have in mind?). I have a charming book by him ("Meister der Turmendspiele") presenting 50 Rook endgames by the best players in the world. A book of 64 (!) pages, with some fine remarks, confirming both that endgames are good for the health, as we remarked about Averbakh, and that in them lies the soul of chess.
Enjoy. Niech Matka Boża ma was w swojej opiece. Gott schütze Sie.
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