Monday - February 04, 2013

Combination Challenge #68

This, like the last one, is from chapter 2 of Combination Challenge. The tactical motif is the pin. You have to either make use of the pin, or break a pin.

Black to move

Graphics courtesy of Exachess

I’m gonna call this one for KGrupa, who at least came up with the correct plan and ending.

1. … Kh7!
2. Be1 Kh6
3. Bc3 Kh5
4. Be1 Kg4
5. Bc3 hxg2+
6. Rxg2 Kh3
7. Be1 Bxg2#

Posted by Christopher     on 02/04/2013 at 10:10 PM   
Filed Under: • CHESS •  
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   Wednesday - January 30, 2013

Combination Challenge #67

Black to move

Wes got this one.

1 … Qxg3+
2. Kxg3 gxf6

The book stopped there Wes.

Posted by Christopher     on 01/30/2013 at 09:05 PM   
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   Friday - November 02, 2012

E11: anonymous, England 1962

Oh, this one is tougher than the last one. Really is a shame we don’t know who played this… White deserves recognition for his checkmate. (yes, that’s a hint that’s NOT in the book.)

11th exercise from Your Move by Yakov Neishtadt.

Graphics courtesy of Exachess

Posted by Christopher     on 11/02/2012 at 12:24 AM   
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   Tuesday - October 30, 2012

E10: Ivanov–Sveshnikov, Chelyabinsk 1973

Tenth exercise from Your Move by Yakov Neishtadt.

Graphics courtesy of Exachess

I had this ready a week ago and forgot to post it. Sorry.

UPDATE: This was a tough one. Even Wes hasn’t posted after I emailed him a hint. Here’s the answer…

1. … Ra3! (decoying the Queen)
2. Qxa3 Be4+
3. Kf4 Bg2+
4. Kg5 Qxe5+
5. Kg4 Qf5+
6. Kh4 Qh3+
7. Kg5 Qh6+
8. Kg4 f5#

Posted by Christopher     on 10/30/2012 at 12:38 PM   
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   Saturday - October 13, 2012

E8: Alekhine-Naegeli, Bern 1932

Eighth exercise from Your Move by Yakov Neishtadt.

Graphics courtesy of Exachess

UPDATE:

Wes wins bragging rights for finding:

1… f5! after which White is defenceless against the threat 2… Qg3+ 3. Qxg3 Rh5#. Unfortunately the Swiss master Naegeli missed this and the game petered out to a draw.

Posted by Christopher     on 10/13/2012 at 09:37 PM   
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   Saturday - September 29, 2012

E7: Stolz-Pilnik, Saltsjöbaden 1952

Seventh exercise from Your Move by Yakov Neishtadt.

Black accepted the offer of a draw thinking that he had nothing better than perpetual check (1… Rg4+ 2. Kh2 Rh4+). Has he?

Graphics courtesy of Exachess

UPDATE:

I’m certain that Pilnik was short of time, otherwise he’d have found this mate-in-3

1. … Rh3+
2. Kf4 Rf3+
3. Qxf3 Qe5#

Black sacs the Rook so White’s Queen occupies the only escape square for White’s King.

Posted by Christopher     on 09/29/2012 at 07:26 PM   
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   Thursday - September 27, 2012

E6: Khalifman-Elvest, Lvov 1985

Exercise #6 from Your Move by Yakov Neishtadt.

Mate on c2 is threatened and the bishop on c8 is en prise. What should White do?

Graphics courtesy of Exachess

UPDATE:

Since Wes posted a link to the game, (Warning: requires Java.) guess I’ll go ahead and post the answer. Like everyone else, I didn’t see the proper followup to…

1. Bf5! Bxf5
2. Qc7!! …

This is the move we all missed. This is why Khalifman was a World Champion contender. I’d have never found that ‘x-ray’ defense. It’s called ‘x-ray’ because White’s queen protects c2 through the Black queen. If Black takes the queen, White mates with Re8#.

2. … Rxd1+
3. Kxd1 Bxc2+
4. Kc1! …

An important move, despite moving into a discovered check, as we shall see later.

4. … Ba4+
5. Qxc6 Bxc6
6. Re6 …

This is why 4. Kc1 was crucial: otherwise Black could salvage his piece with 6… Nc4+.

6. … Bb5
7. Rxb6 Kg8
8. Rb7 with a technically won endgame for White. 

Posted by Christopher     on 09/27/2012 at 10:04 AM   
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   Tuesday - September 25, 2012

E5: Capablanca-Rossolimo, Paris 1938

Posted by Christopher     on 09/25/2012 at 01:55 PM   
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   Saturday - September 22, 2012

E4: Zavyalov-Apartsev, Moscow 1985

Fourth exercise from Your Move by Yakov Neishtadt.

UPDATE: Samoore gets partial credit for finding the first move for both sides. Wes got the winning movel

1. Qf6 Qe5
2. Rxa5! resigns

Posted by Christopher     on 09/22/2012 at 04:50 PM   
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   Tuesday - September 18, 2012

E3: Doroshkevich-Fedorov, Krasnodar 1981

Third exercise from Your Move by Yakov Neishtadt.

UPDATE: Wes found a ‘cook’ in the problem. See comments 6-8 for Wes’ cook and the book solution.

Posted by Christopher     on 09/18/2012 at 03:15 PM   
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   Friday - September 07, 2012

Not a problem…

No, this is not, strictly speaking, a chess problem. This is from the 1987 Dayton Chess Club Championship. I was White playing against Tony Mantia (rated 2000+) My rating at the time was a ‘lowly’ 1700+. I was outrated. This was before computers that were strong enough to beat even a newbie. It’s Black to move. Tony sealed his move at this point. (I wonder how many chess afficionados even remember the ‘sealed move’?) I took the game home and spent my free time for a week trying to find the draw. I’m down a pawn, but I also have the outside passed pawn. Black has to keep an eye on that. I couldn’t find a win for Black. In fact, in every variation I explored, Black lost if he tried to win! Well, you be the judge. Black to move…

For those who care, I called Tony just before the next round started. We agreed ‘drawn without resumption’.

Posted by Christopher     on 09/07/2012 at 01:31 PM   
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   Thursday - May 31, 2012

Stealing A March On Christopher

Vishy Anand wins Moscow chess championship

World chess champion Vishy Anand (2791 rating) has retained his title against Israeli Boris Gelfand (2727 rating).

The Indian player beat his rival 2.5-1.5 in a tie-breaker round of four short games after they ended a 12-game series level.

The world chess championship was being played in Moscow for the first time since Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov in 1985.

Anand has been champion since 2007. His challenger is ranked 20th in the world.

The winner told a press conference that the game was “incredibly tense”.

“The match was so even that I had no sense of what shape the tie-break would take… I am really too tense to be happy, but there is relief,” he said.
Rivalry

Anand walks away with $1.5m (£966,000) in prize money, while runner-up Gelfand gets $1m.

The pair played behind glass at one of Russia’s top museums, the State Tretyakov Gallery, watched by hundreds of chess fans.

The championship did not make great viewing for the audience, says the BBC’s Daniel Sandford in Moscow, unlike the match between Kasparov and Karpov 27 years ago.

Of the 12 games played, the pair have won only one each, with the rest ending as draws.

the entire audience feels the tension during the match
and half wonders if there will be any soap back at the nursing home tonight

Posted by Drew458     on 05/31/2012 at 11:41 AM   
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   Tuesday - May 22, 2012

E2: Wehnert-Leiss, Sassnitz 1962

First, I posted the solution to Problem #237. I’ve a feeling that Drew won’t like it because it ends with the magic words and wins.

I’ll be going back and forth between Combination Challenge and Your Move!. This is exercise #2 from Your Move! by Yakov Neishtadt. It’s White to move. The only hint I’ll give is that Black resigned on the third move. Your Move! is usually more difficult than Combination Challenge. Your Move doesn’t give nice little themes to look for.

White to move

UPDATE: 2/25/12

Here’s how the game actually went:

1. Re1! Rd8

If 1 … Rc8 then 2. Qb7, and after 1 … Rf8 Black gets mated: 2. Rxf8+ and 3. Qb8+

2. Qb5! …

This is conclusive since on 2 … c6 there follows 3. Qb7! (3 … Ra7 4. Qxd7 Rxd7 5. Re8+)

The game ended:

2 … Rxg2+
3. Kh1 and Black resigned.

Posted by Christopher     on 05/22/2012 at 08:21 PM   
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   Saturday - May 19, 2012

FORSOOTH!  CHESS A SILLY GAME? NONONONONONONONNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Drew happens to be one of the very best friends I have never met.  He has done favors and given me tech help, some of which I don’t understand to this day.
He’s never offered bad advice and from time to time has saved me from myself.  He’s gone out of his way to snail mail me stuff because I asked. So yeah, I consider him a very good friend.
However ...... 

Gee Drew ... after all this time ... is this our first spat? LOL

It all started with Christopher’s chess game and a comment Drew made as follows.

I think you take this silly game way too seriously.

Now Dear Friend Drew, this deserves a post all its own, not under comments.

Drew. Chess a silly game? OMG!  Crivens! Et tu Brute? Or whatever’s close. No. Never that.

Wish I were a good player but my brain does not engage to a high chess standard. And you have be serious about this activity (game seems so, ??? ordinary?)

Haven’t played in years. Wife and I used to spend hours at it. Alas, she is a better player and once played on several boards. In a tournament, England’s Southern Champ fought off all comers on lots of boards till my wife sat down and fought him to a stalemate. She always felt she might have won but lost concentration due to many ppl crowding around them and especially her, being the only female. This was in the days when ladies weren’t supposed to be doing such things. The games were hosted by the IBM chess club. Of which my wife was a member. She belonged to team two and waited for an opening on the first team. Which came open and they picked a man for the spot on team one, who Jennifer had beaten more then once.

So then ….  Just how serious can some folks take this …. game?

She quit IBM

Christopher… Love the animation on that game but it moved so fast I had a hard time. Put it down to age etc.
It was especially interesting because each and every move seemed to be synced with a loud ticking clock we have in this room.

I haven’t been much up to date and forgot how to ID the moves as I was used to the old way.
But I did notice something with pawns. At one point is looked like a white pawn had a clear and safe capture of an undefended black pawn, but did not take and so on a following move the black advanced and protected the other black. But the animation was moving too fast for me to figure out why the white never took black pawn. Anyway, even tho I don’t contribute to it I really enjoy looking in on games. 

Posted by peiper     on 05/19/2012 at 03:53 AM   
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