Winners of 2009 Kosteniuk Grand-Prix Puzzle Contest
Hello everyone!
Surprisingly, out of all the solutions received only 2 solutions were totally correct.
Here are the full answers to the puzzles:
 Hoffman - Petrov, 1844. Black to move.
Puzzle 1. Black plays and wins
12. … O-O !! Nice queen sacrifice 13.
[13. Rf1 Rxf7 14. Rxf7 Qg5+ 15. Qg4 Qxg4 15. Kxg4 Kxf7 -+ ]
[14. Kg4 Rf4+ 15. Kg5 (15. Kh5 Rh4+ 16.Kg5 h6+ 17.Kf5 Ne7#) 15. ... h6+ 16. Kh5 Rh4+ 17. Kg6 Ne7#]
15. ... Nf4+ 16. Kg4 Nxe6 17.g3 Nd4
[ 17. ... Nd8+ leads to checkmate even faster 18. Kh5 (18. Kg5 Rf5+ 19. Kg4 Rf6+ 20. Kg5 Be3+ 21. Kh4 Rh6+ 22. Qh5 g5#; 18. Kh4 Rf4+ 19. Kg5 Ne6+ 20. Kh5 g6+ 21. Kh6 Rh4+ 22. gxh4 Be3#) 18...Rf5+ 19.Kg4 Rf6+ 20.Kh4 Rh6+ 21.Kg5 Be3#]
[19. Kg5 Rf5+ 20. Kg4 h5+ 21. Kh3 Rf3#]
19. ... Nf5
[19. ... Rf4 was also checkmating]
20. Kh3 Ne3+ 21. Kh4 Ng2+ 22. Kh5 g6+ 23. Kg5 Be3#
 Healey, 1861, White plays and checkmates in 3 moves.
A very nice and difficult checkmate in 3 problem, here's what Fernando Rosetti writes about it:
"The knight protects a mate square (d6) while the bishop guards the c7 and d7 mate squares. Therefore, black has only two playable moves: Bd7 or Be8. How to find the key move?Theoretically, in a composition, each “extra piece” plays an important role. Not different here. The pawn on g2 avoids mate in one (Qg1), Rf3 stops the pawn advance f3-f2, and therefore g1 is an important square. The bishop on a1 seems useless but sharp-eyed solvers can understand him like a “correction” in order to avoid the dual. So, the key is the only square that does not block up the queen’s incursion to g1 via b1.
1. Rh1!! Be8/Bd7 2. Qb1 Bb5 3. Qg1#
If black plays other than 2. ... Bb5, white checkmates with 3. Qb4."
Pillsbury – Em. Lasker St. Petersburg (1895-96)
17. … Rxc3 18. fxe6
[ In case of 18. bxc3 Black can get a better endgame by playing Qxc3 19. Qf3! (19.fxe6? Qb4+ 4.Ka1 Rc8 5.exf7+ Kf8) 19. ... Qxf3! 20. gf Bxf5+ 21. Bd3 Bh3 or he can play for an attack with 18. ... Bd7!? since after 19. Qf3 Rc8 Black's attack is unstoppable]
Ra3!! The key of the combination.
19. exf7+?
[ With the strongest 19. ba! White would have still been able to save the game but for that he would need to do many more excellent defensive moves.]
Rxf7 20. bxa3 Qb6+ 21. Bb5 Qxb5 22. Ka1 Rc7?
[The easiest way to win here is to play 22. ... Qc4! 23. Qg4 Re7! (with the idea Re4 or Re2) 24. Rhe1 Bxd4+ 25. Qxd4 Rxe1 winning]
23. Rd2 Rc4 24. Rhd1?
[White could have make a draw after 24. Re1!]
24. ... Rc3?
[24. ... Qc6 was winning]
25. Qf5 Qc4 26.Kb2?
[26. Kb1 could have helped White to stop Blaxk's attack and gain the initiative]
26. ... Rxa3 !! 27. Qe6+ Kh7?
[ Black was winning after 27. ... Kh8]
28. Kxa3??
[ After 28. Qf5+ Kh8 29. Kb1 White could saved the game]
Qc3+ 29. Ka4 b5+! 30. Kxb5 Qc4+ 31. Ka5 Bd8+ 32. Qb6 Bxb6#
You can find more comments about this game in the excellent work by Garry Kasparov "My Great Predecessors", volume 1.
So...
The Grand-winner of the Grand-Prix is Fernando Rossetti from Brazil, he gets my new autographed book "Diary of a Chess Queen", congratulations!
Renato Oliviera and Francisco Valiente were just a few points behind the winner and get my "Best Games DVD" as a prize.
Thanks to everybody for participating!
Posted by Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST
December 09 - AK Puzzle Chess Contest
Hello everybody!
I'm in Dallas, TX right now, having a great time at the Nationals K-12 Chess Championships. This morning I gave a 44-boards simultaneous exhibition, the final score was +38=5-1, you can be sure I will tell you more about this event in the coming days, with many great photos I promise!
The latest months have been very busy for me, I was so busy preparing and playing in tournaments that I didn't even have enough time to post the three November Contest Puzzles. So in order to make sure to finish the year on the chess note before flying to Dallas I prepared 3 problems for the December Contest of the Alexandra Kosteniuk GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST. I'm sure you will enjoy solving them and I will get many emails with correct answers.
As usual till the end of this month you can send me your solutions by email. On the 31st of December I will announce 3 winners who sent me the most complete and correct solutions. Also, on December 31, 2009 I will announce the Grand-Prize winner of the Alexandra Kosteniuk Grand-Prix Chess Puzzle Conteste who will get the top chess prize. The Grand-Prize winner will be determined by the number of times participated, and of course the maximum number of correct answers.
The more you participate in my puzzle contests, the more chances you will have to win, and of course solving my puzzles will be useful to you and will help you improve at chess.
Please answer only by email and not putting the solution in the comments to this post, give a chance to everyone to enjoy solving the problem on their own. And in the email, please mention whole variations to the end, do not only give the first move, special credit will go for completeness of the solution. When several variations are present, write them all. And please write as the subject of the email December 2009 Puzzle Contest. Good luck!
Here they are:
(Above) Puzzle 1. Black plays and wins. Category Easy.
(Above) Puzzle 2. White to move. White plays and checkmates in 3 moves. Category Intermediate.
(Above) Puzzle 3. Black to move Black plays and wins. Category Difficult.
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion
Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST
October 2009 AK Puzzle Contest Winners
Hello everybody!
After my month away from home, I'm back with 3 new medals in my collection: One Silver team medal in the Eurocup, and two Gold medals from the European Team Championship.
After the victorious European team championship in Novi Sad, on October 31 I flew back to Moscow. I arrived in Moscow at 6 pm on October 31 and already in 12 hours later I had my flight to Miami. When I was driving to the airport at 3 am on November 1, it was snowing in Moscow. It felt like Christmas.
But in Miami there was no snow at all. It was sunny, of course! Such a change in less than 16 hours!
On November 2 I found out the name of my opponent in the coming World Cup in Khanty-Mansiisk. On November 21 and 22 in the first round of the World Cup I will be playing against GM Shakhriayr Mamedyarov. The full table of pairings for the World Cup can be found here.
So November promises to be a very interesting month for me chesswise. I will meet the strongest chess players in the world. First, playing in the World Blitz Championship. By the way now there will be 22 players. To the 20 players that were announced earlier, 2 more players have been invited - Judith Polgar and Dmitry Jakovenko. Second, I will be participating in the World Cup and finally I will play in the first ACP women's world cup in Turkey. Lots of tournaments, and of course, I'm back to training super hard to prepare for them!
Out of the many received solutions only 3 were perfectly correct.
Below I'm posting the solutions by the winner of the October Puzzle Contest - Fernando Rossetti (Brazil).
 Alexandra Kosteniuk Puzzle Contest 2009 (October), Analysis by Fernando Rossetti (Brazil)
Puzzle 1. White plays and wins
Steinitz-Chigorin World Championship
Rematch 1892 (Havana, Cuba) Game #4 - Classic
One could be eager to sac the rook (Rxh7+) aiming to set a net mate, converting the point. Probably a Steinitz’s wishful thinking, once he was at that moment, one point behind after three games. Let’s see why this premature sac doesn’t work.
Try play:
1.Rxh7+?? Kxh7 2. Qh1+ Kg8 3. Ng5 Rf5!
(3... Rf7? 4.Qh7+ Kf8 5. Nxf7 Kxf7=)
4.Qh7+ Kf8
A) 5. Bxe6 Rxe6 6. Nxe6+ Qxe6 B) 5.g4 Rxg5 6. Bxg5 a4 7. Bxe6 Qxe6
Black still hold the position and White is totally lost. So, what’s the best black’s defender? N and dark square B. How to remove the guard? Blowing up the center, but is it possible? Yes. Black is misplaced, allowing White’s fork (d4-d5) attempt.
Actual play:
1.d4! exd4 (forced) 2. Nxd4 Bxd4?!
[2... Nxd4?? and the rook sac on h7 works 3. Rxh7+ Kxh7 4. Qh1+ with mate in two]
3. Rxd4!
More than a simple recapture, this move is a “psychologic invitation”. A fine strategic shot whereas Black dark square (one of the best defender in this position) was swept out of the board.
[3. Bxd4? would have been a mistake, because after 3... Nxd4 4. Rxd4 5.b5 black equalizes (the pair of plays) and goes into a drawn endgame].
How difficult to give good advices in this position: A) 3... Kg8?! 4. Qd1 Rf7 5. Rc4 Qd6 6. Qxd6 cxd6 7. Rd1 b5 8. Rh4 +− B) 3... Re7 4. Rdh4 b5?! 5. Qd3! +− C) 3... b5?! 4. Qd3! +−
After the blunder 3... Nxd4?? all the rest is simple and well known. An astonishing domination: Q + B attacking dark squares with a helpful sword light squared B who guards a2-g8 diagonal. 4. Rxh7+ Kxh7 5. Qh1+ Kg7 6. Bh6+ Kf6 7. Qh4+ Ke5 8. Qxd4+ Chigorin resigns in view of 8... Kf5 9. Qf4# [9.g4#]
 (Above) Puzzle 2 by Carvajal, J., 1996. White to move. White plays and wins. Category Intermediate.
1.a7 b5+ (forced) 2. Kxb5 Kb7 3.a8Q+ Kxa8 4.f7 Rh8 (forced) 5. Ka6!! [5. Kb6? Rf8!] 5... Kb8
A) [5... Rf8 6. Nb6+ Kb8 7.Nd7+ winning the rook] B) [5... Rd8 6. Nc7+ Kb8 7. Ne8 +−]
6. Nf6 Kc7 7. Ng8 +- and the promotion is unstoppable.
(Above) Puzzle 3 by Dorogov, Y., 1982. White to move White plays and wins. Category Difficult.
1.e7 Nf4+ 2. Qxf4 [2. Nxf4?? Qd7+ 3. Ke3 h1Q 4. Qf8 Qg1+ 5. Ke4 Qc6+ 6. Kf5 Qb1+-+] 2... Qh7+ 3. Kd2 h1Q 4. Qxa4+!! Taking advantage of 1.e7 and exploiting position. 4... Kxa4 5. e8Q+ Ka5 6. Qa8+ Kb5 7. Nc7+ Qxc7 8. a4+ Kc4 9. Qg8+ All is over. Black is in zugzwang and there are two main lines to converting the point. The artistic one and the "playable" one.
A) Artistic: 9... Qd5+ 10. Kc2 Qxg8 [10... Qh7+?! 11. Qxh7 there is no escape] 11.e4! The move usually begins the clash now ends it 11...−− 12.b3#
B) Playable: Trying to give back material advantage leading to a pawn endgame
9... Qf7 10. Qxf7+ Qd5+ 11. Qxd5+ Kxd5 12. Ke3 g2 13. Kf2+−
So the winner of the October Puzzle Contest is Fernando Rossetti from Brazil, 2nd prize goes to Renato Carlos de Oliveira and the third place goes to Francisco Valiente. Congratulations!
As usual the winners can send me an email with their postal address and the prizes will be shipped out to them!
Soon I will post 3 new November 09 puzzles, get ready!
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion
Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST
October-09 AK Grand-Prix Puzzle Contest
Hello everybody!
It's time for the October Puzzle Contest and 3 more interesting puzzles of the Alexandra Kosteniuk GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST. As usual till the end of this month you can send me your solutions by email. On the 1st of November I will announce 3 winners who sent me the most complete and correct solutions.
I remind you that from August 2009 on, once a month here on www.chessblog.com I will give you 3 chess puzzles to solve, ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult. They will be challenging and interesting for everyone. I hope you will try to solve them on your own without help from the computer. At the end of each month I will announce 3 winners who will get 3 chess prizes (1 for each).
At the end of this year, on December 31, 2009 I will announce the Grand-Prize winner who will get the top chess prize. The Grand-Prize winner will be determined by the number of times participated, and of course the maximum number of correct answers.
The more you participate in my puzzle contests, the more chances you will have to win, and of course solving my puzzles will be useful to you and will help you improve at chess.
Please answer only by email and not putting the solution in the comments to this post, give a chance to everyone to enjoy solving the problem on their own. And in the email, please mention whole variations to the end, do not only give the first move, special credit will go for completeness of the solution. When several variations are present, write them all. And please write as the subject of the email October 2009 Puzzle Contest. Good luck!
Here they are:
(Above) Puzzle 1. White plays and wins. Category Intermediate.
(Above) Puzzle 2. White to move. White plays and wins. Category Intermediate.
(Above) Puzzle 3. White to move White plays and wins. Category Difficult.
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion
Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST
September 2009 AK Puzzle Contest Winners
Hello everyone!
September is over. It's time to announce the winners of the September Alexandra Kosteniuk Grand-Prix Puzzle Contest.
Out of all the solutions received only 5 solutions were perfectly correct.
Here are the full answers to the puzzles:
The first position is the position of Greco of 1623. Black starts and despite the fact that he doesn't have 2 pawns, makes a draw by playing:
1. ... Ra1+ 2. Rf1 Rxf1+ 3. Kxf1 and now the bishop sacrifice 3. ... Bh3! with the idea to double the pawns on the h file or take the pawn g2 on the next move and after that the draw is unavoidable. Since the h8 square is Black and White has a white-squared bishop, that means that if the Black king will get to the h8 square White will not be able to get him out of the corner and it's a theoretical draw.
The second puzzle is the position from the game Gunsberg - Chigorin of 1890:
Chigorin continued the game with the brilliant move 35. ... Rxf3!! 36. Qxf3 ( If 36. Rh4, then Black has two possibilities to play "36. ... Rg3+ 37. Kxg3 Qxh4 38. Kf3 Qh3+ 39. Kf2 Rf7+ 40. Ke1! Qg3+ 41. Kd1 Rf2 winning the Queen - Chigorin" or to play "36. ... Qxh4 37. Kxf3 Qh3+ 38. Kf2 Qh2+ 39. Ke1 Qg3+ 40. Kd1 Rh1+ 41. Kd2 Rh2 -+ - Kasparov") 36. ... Qd2+ 37. Kg1 Bf2+ ( 37. ... Nd4 was also possible, but 37. ... Rf7 doesn't work here, I got many solutions with this move proposed in view of 38. Qxf7+ Kxf7 39. Rf1+ Kg8 40. Bc1! and Black will be able only to make a draw after Bf2+ 41. Kg2 Qe2 42. Rxf2 Qxg4+ with perpetual) 38. Kf1 Nd4! 39. Bxd4 Qxc1 40. Ke2 Rxh1 41. Bxf2 Qxb1 42. g5 Qf1+, and Gunsberg resigned.
The third puzzle is the corrected version of the study by Gijs van Breukelen. Immediately after publishing this puzzle I got a message on Facebook from Jim Plaskett who pointed out to me that there was a big discussion about this puzzle not so long ago on chessbase.com and I needed to correct this puzzle a little bit by putting the White pawn on h2, so it can work out.
White wins by playing 1. Nf6+ Kg7 (Kh8 2. d8Q+ winning; 1. ...Kg6 2. Bh5+ and 3. d8Q since there is no more fork on f7 possible after Bh5+) 2. Nh5+ Kg6 (2. ... Kf7 3. d8Q) 3. Bc2+! Kxh5 (3. ... Kf7 4. d8Q) 4. d8Q Nf7+ 5. Ke6 Nxd8 6. Kf5! (threatens mate in 2 after Bd1+ and Bxe2#) e2 7. Be4! (threatens Bf3#) e1N 8. Bd5! (threatens Bd5-b3-d1# and the text) c2 9. Bc4 (threatens Be2#) c1N 10. Bb5 (threatens Be8#) Nc7 11. Ba4 (threatens Bd1 with an unstoppable mate) Nc2 12. Bxc2 Ne2 13. Bd1 c4 14. Bxe2#.
So the winners are:
2. Renato Oliveira 3. Medhat Moheb
these 3 winners will get their September prizes.
Petar Kozarev and Leonard McLaren have also solved the puzzles correctly so they get the Grand-Prix points and still have chances to win the Grand-Prix prize at the end of the year.
Congratulations!!!!
The winners can send me an email with their postal address and the prizes will be shipped out to them!
Soon I will post 3 new October 09 puzzles, get ready!
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST, September 09
SEPTEMBER 09 - AK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST
Dear friends!
We had a great August Chess Puzzle Contest, with over 100 answers, and 3 winners, which will soon be receiving their prizes (I will mail them the day after I come back from my travels).
Now it's time for the September Puzzle Contest and 3 more interesting puzzles of the Alexandra Kosteniuk GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST. As usual till the end of this month you can send me your solutions by email. On the 1st of October I will announce 3 winners who sent me the most complete and correct solutions.
For those of you who missed the August Contest I remind that from August 2009 on, once a month here on www.chessblog.com I will give you 3 chess puzzles to solve, ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult. They will be challenging and interesting for everyone. I hope you will try to solve them on your own without help from the computer. At the end of each month I will announce 3 winners who will get 3 chess prizes (1 for each).
At the end of this year, on December 31, 2009 I will announce the Grand-Prize winner who will get the top chess prize. The Grand-Prize winner will be determined by the number of times participated, and of course the maximum number of correct answers.
The more you participate in my puzzle contests, the more chances you will have to win, and of course solving my puzzles will be useful to you and will help you improve at chess.
Please answer only by email and not putting the solution in the comments to this post, give a chance to everyone to enjoy solving the problem on their own. And in the email, please mention whole variations to the end, do not only give the first move, special credit will go for completeness of the solution. When several variations are present, write them all. And please write as the subject of the email September Puzzle Contest. Good luck!
Here they are!
(Above) Puzzle 1. Black to move Black plays and draws. Category Easy.
(Above) Puzzle 2. Black to move Black plays and wins. Category Intermediate.
(Above) Puzzle 3. White to move White plays and wins. Category Difficult.
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk Women's World Chess Champion Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST
WINNERS of AUGUST 2009 AK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST
Hello everybody!
August is over and I'm ready to announce the winners of my August 2009 Grand-Prix Chess Puzzle Competition.
I received hundreds of emails with answers, but only 3 of the emails were close to the correct answers.
Here are the full correct answers:
The first position above is from the book of Del Rio of 1750. The correct answer is 1. Qa6! Rb8 (1. ... bxa6 2. Bc6#) 2. Bc6 Qc8 (the most stubborn defense for Black) 3. Qxa7+! Kxa7 4. Ra1#
The second puzzle above is a study of Leonid Kubbel of 1924. The answer is: 1. g6+ Kg8 2. Rb6 Kf8! 3. Nd5!! exd5 (the best move for Black here) 4. Kc5! d1Q 5. Kd6 Qe1 6. Rb8+ Qe8 7. Rxe8 Kxe8 8. Kc6+- Beautiful!
The third puzzle above is a position from the game Lasker - Pillsbury of 1895. Black won by playing 17. ... Nexd4! 18. Qd1 Rxe1 19. Qxe1 Nxf3!! 20. Kxf3 (20. Qd1 Nce5) 20. ... f4! (Nobody proposed this move, instead the winners suggested 20. ... Ne5+!? which is also interesting 21. Ke2 Qe8 and Black has a dangerous attack) 21. Qd1 (If 21. Ke2 Re8+ 22. Ne3 fxe3 23. fxe3 Black has a beautiful move 23. ... Nxd4! (23. ... Qg4+ is also possible 24. Kd2 Nd4!) 24. Kd1 (24. cd Qg4+ 25. Kd2 Bb4; 25. Kf2 Rf8+) 24. ... Qa4+ 25. b3 Nxb3 -+) 21. ... Ne5 and Black won after 22.Ke2 Qg4+ 23.Kd2 Qxd1+ 24.Kxd1 Nxd3 25.Ke2 Ne5 26.f3 Re8 27.b3 Ng4+ 28.Kd2 Ne3 29.Bb2 Ng2 30.h3 Bc5 31.Nh2 Bf2 32.c4 dxc4 33.bxc4 h5 0-1
So the winners for August 2009 AK Grand-Prix Chess Puzzle Contest are:
2. Francisco Valiente, on Twitter @fmvgvg
Congratulations!!!!
The winners can send me an email with their postal address and the prizes will be shipped out soon!
Soon I will post 3 new September 09 puzzles, get ready!
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk (follow me on Twitter @chessqueen) Women's World Chess Champion
Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST
AK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST - August-09
Dear friends, dear chess lovers,
I'm glad to announce a new regular ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST!
From now on, once a month here on www.chessblog.com I will give you 3 chess puzzles to solve, ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult. They will be challenging and interesting for everyone. I hope you will try to solve them on your own without help from the computer.
I will announce these puzzle contests here on chessblog.com, on kosteniuk.com, and on my Twitter and Facebook pages.
Below you will find the 3 first puzzles of the Grand-Prix, try to solve them and send your solutions as complete as possible to my email till August 31, 2009.
At the end of each month I will announce 3 winners who will get 3 chess prizes. At the end of this year, on December 31, 2009 I will announce the Grand-Prize winner who will get MANY useful chess prizes. The Grand-Prize winner will be determined by the number of times participated, and of course the maximum number of correct answers.
The more you participate in my puzzle contests, the more chances you will have to win, and of course solving my puzzles will be useful to you and will help you improve at chess.
Please answer only by email and not putting the solution in the comments to this post, give a chance to everyone to enjoy solving the problem on their own. And in the email, please mention whole variations to the end, do not only give the first move, special credit will go for completeness of the solution. When several variations are present, write them all.
Are you ready? So let's the ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLE CONTEST begin!
Good luck!
(Above) Puzzle 1. White to move
Mate in 4 moves. Category Easy.
 (Anove) Puzzle 2. White to moveWhite plays and wins. Category Intermediate.
 (Above) 3. Black to move
Black plays and wins. Category Difficult.
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion
www.chessblog.com
Labels: ALEXANDRA KOSTENIUK GRAND-PRIX CHESS PUZZLES CONTEST
|
|
