may 6 2025

Saturday's lesson went off without a hitch with the hard core of listeners working on solving the exercises as well as 2 games, each including a ‘psychedelic’ move, one by Tal, the other by Spassky - that's saying something!

The fairy compositions selected by the Master rounded things off with, among other amusing touches, a very fine composition by our friend Jean-Marc.

The next appointment is scheduled for 31 May.

Happy reading!

Master's word

"When tyrants tremble in their fear And hear their death knell ringing When friends rejoice both far and near. Since love is lord of heaven and earth How can I keep from singing?" (Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin, said Enya). https://youtu.be/yIkjMzAFy_Q

« The big ones will stop dominating when the little ones stop grovelling » (Fr. Schiller).

"In ancient times, the name of God was written in letters of gold, but today it is gold that is worshipped as a god." (G. K. Chesterton).

"I only own what I have given" (G. D'Annunzio, after Seneca). 30 years of "fury and patience" in the words of Baudelaire.

"He sins who is angry for no reason. But he sins more who, having just cause to be angry, is silent." (saint Augustin).

There's a time for Saint-Saëns, Bellini, Bach and, especially after 4 hours of chess analysis, a time for... https://youtu.be/tepHPAyrX4A https://youtu.be/AWB2alXccWg

"How did you convince them? -- Sex. I gave 634 blow jobs in 15 days’ (Julia Roberts in “Erin Brockovich”, 2000).

"Although my eyes were open, they might have just as well been closed" (Procol Harum). This phrase from sixty years ago applies perfectly to almost all of today's politicians, who are incapable of seeing what they see, as Péguy used to say.

"A chaotic image appeared in my head, which suddenly gave way to Tchoukovsky's well-known poem about a hippopotamus stuck in a swamp. I was preoccupied with a problem of a purely technical nature: I imagined bringing him a ladder or a lift, or even a helicopter, but I couldn't help him and left the hippopotamus in a sad situation. I sacrificed the Knight almost accidentally and... the combination gave me a convincing victory! The next day I was pleased to read in the newspaper that Tal, in deep thought, had fully calculated all the consequences of the sacrifice’ (M. Tal commenting on his 19 Nxg7! against Vassioukov in Kiev 1965).

A missed win in the Rook endgame. The pawn structure is reminiscent of this course https://lecoursdumaitre.e-monsite.com/pages/cours/cat-2024/26-novembre-2024.html but the ideas are different. A praise of passivity, then the necessary harmony between a White Rook and its pawn. Finally, the choice of the right side for the Black King. With, no doubt, a reasonable number of ZZs!

A recent pawn endgame where the elo rating "does nothing to help", as Georges Brassens put it. A Czech study-problem from a century ago, and a fun tactical festival from a little later.

For the following month, a single good move by the White King, 4 trials (the other legal moves) with 3 different refutations. Then a single good move by the White Rook.

The other exercises are simpler: a Dutch study by a regular on our course which could well end in a mate, a rescue with one less Rook, and finally two very short twins.

The two games of the day contained the same ‘psychedelic’ move, played by two future world champions, and leading objectively... to a logical loss! But logic was not respected: the first game was won in 20 moves by the offender. The second game, although highly publicised by the media, and particularly noted by a major Dutch website, was largely misunderstood, with Black going from a situation where he could almost give up to a situation where he could really win (see the 48th, 52nd, 58th & 66th moves).

Training: only the 2nd to 6th, then the 10th to 12th, of the 2# will provoke any thought. Paradoxically, these are the two easiest (for my taste) that were proposed in the world championships!

I recently spent three weeks devouring a collection of 411 problems by Ladislav Knotek, dating from 1910 to 1956. Admittedly, many of them are incorrect, and electronic checking monsters didn't exist then, but how many gems? I already had around thirty by this author, and now I have over 80 more. They all include at least 3 model mates (the sine qua non condition) but many other mates are just as elegant. Let me start with a repair: I had to add a 3rd black Rook to save an idea I really liked. Then a few more to solve. I've always been amazed that you can make model mates with 6 units. Here are a few samples, with or without pins. I've left the solution to these, so that if you can't solve them (which I do advise you to do), you can have a look at these strange mates.

A tribute to Teodora Injac, the European woman champion who, after losing the 1st round for missing mate in two moves (!), went on to score 9 points in a row! As luck would have it, she is a member of our friend Marjan's circle. In chess, as elsewhere, there is no such thing as chance, and besides, the first name ‘Theodore’ means ‘gift from God’, so there's nothing surprising about that. It's also worth noting that two European champions, one from 2024, the other from 2025, both Serbs who dominated their tournaments, have similar names: Indjić & Injac. The country that hosted the 1992 Spassky-Fischer match. Certainly a coincidence. Честитам Теодора, импресивно !