april 8 2025
The lesson went off without a hitch, the wary listeners having taken the initiative by logging on in advance!
For this session, the correction of the Mandlerian composition took us quite some time, followed by a work by the Master himself and 2 studies to finish, one of which gave us quite a bit of trouble.
To round off the orthodox chess, the game of the day was an agitated draw between 2 players who like animation.
To finish off, we had a bit of fairy with, among other things, a genre not yet covered in the course: polo chess;
It's quite disturbing, but easy to understand.
The next session will be held on May 3
Master's word
A case of foresight ? https://youtu.be/qvAb0LNWc5M compare with https://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/cat-2024/1er-octobre-2024.html But, as is sometimes the case with "reconstructed" chess problems, both versions have their charm !
It's said that travel "shapes youth". But "old age" continues to travel, as far as I know. And yet it's true that reading, if not "shaping" it, is a greater pleasure. It seems to me to be the best way of ensuring the "prosperity of the mind", as Condorcet said of mathematics..
"The state of grace, the vital forces, will return faster than you think..." (Françoise Hardy).
"Wisdom in the Greek sense of the word is sometimes to be violent, sometimes not. It is not to be lukewarm and flat." (L. Daudet).
"Throughout France's countless vicissitudes, the percentage of troublemakers is the only one that has never fallen." (M. Audiard).
"Marxism, the first expression of which was the "Communist Party Manifesto", inspired and subsidised by the Illuminati of Bavaria, had three wealthy bourgeois as its protagonists : Marx, Engels and Laffite" (J. Bordiot).
"We must destroy everything, blindly, with one thought in mind: as much as possible, as quickly as possible." (A. Weishaupt, reproduced verbatim by Bakounin).
« To regard calamities of any kind as an objection, as something that must be done away with, is nonsense par excellence, almost as stupid as the desire to do away with bad weather out of pity for the poor.» (F. Nietzsche).
"Beauty and depth" is the title of John Beasley's wonderful book about the Czech genius Artur Mandler. We are served by... 3 studies in one: two twins and a tour of the whole chessboard by the White King, in every direction: everything seems to be happening on the kingside and yet the White King has to go to b8 or even a8 !
Your "master" proposes a clean-up of a file by a white Rook, which will visit 5 squares. Then a Kasparian masterpiece with Rook and pawn against Bishop and Knight, containing a particularly formidable try. And of course a few ZZs! Resting with Platov: choice of the right Rook.
For the next session, a Rooks endgame that will remind you of something, then a recently sabotaged pawn endgame, bishops of different colours who don't draw, and finally another tactical festival.
Three games in one on the "stonewall", which your "master" played with both colours, like Nogueiras. The one for the 1953 Candidates tournament is very rich. Each player has a dangerous ‘passed’ pawn on the "e" column, but the black pawn will have more prospects.
Training: a formidable try in the first 2#, tries in almost all the others too, although the series seems easier to me than last month. In 3#, two sacrificial festivals a century away.
Let's finish our tribute to Christian Caminade: a 3# with double Novotny. Then an helpmate 4# which has 6 solutions in appearance, in reality only 2, as a little retrograde analysis shows! We find the trial, now a solution of the twin. Finally, one last "maximum selfmate", which you have to look for a bit before you crack.
All the regulars on the course have known Anna Shukhman since : https://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/cat-2024/5-mars-2024.html This year, she was not in Cannes, preferring Petrovac, a beautiful beach in Montenegro. And good luck to her, as she is the world junior champion, aged just 16. After her 6th place at the 2023 world championships in resolution (and of course first female), this is her 2nd world title of sorts. Another spanking for the idiots in France who keep telling us that we shouldn't "waste time" on chess problems.
Enjoy your meal. Kéž vám Bůh požehná. Isten áldjon.
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