27 June 2011
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011
Hello everyone,
Winners of the New in Chess/Huffington Post Chess Contest have just been announced. They are:
Hello everyone,
Winners of the New in Chess/Huffington Post Chess Contest have just been announced. They are:
1. Roberto Alvares, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Jan Kalendovsky, Brno, The Czech Republic
3. Michal Holes, The Czech Republic
They will receive one year subscription to the New In Chess magazine. How cool. Congratulations to them.
The solutions are shown below.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The contest was done in cooperation with New In Chess. It consisted of three parts: a trivia question, a chess study and a chess problem.
These were the tasks:
TRIVIA
He predicted the opponent and the outcome with these words: “It will by Short and it will be short.” He also likes the movies Casablanca, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Godfather. Who is this grandmaster?
ANSWER: Garry Kasparov
One of Kasparov’s favorite movies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was screened on June 20 at New York’s Bryant Park in front of 10,500 moviegoers. The film director Milos Forman opened the evening.
STUDY
White plays and wins
SOLUTION:
The position is from the game Healy,John – Kaas,E.,
Simultaneous display, Simpson’s, 2009
1.Ne5! The only way to win! The white knight doesn’t allow the black king the pick up the h-pawn. Black is in zugzwang: any king’s move allows 2.h7 and white queens.
Other moves don’t win, for example: 1.Nf4 Kf7 2.Kb2 Kg8 followed by 3…Kh7, draws;
1.Kb2 Kg6 draws as well.
The puzzle is from John Healy’s book Coffeehouse Chess Tactics. The author of the powerful autobiography The Grass Arena pays a tribute to chess, a game that changed his life.
PROBLEM
White plays and mates in three moves
SOLUTION:
Karl Behting’s splendid three-mover was published in the Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1893.
The Latvian chess composer was a strong master who participated in the first chess olympiad in Paris in 1924. He also devoted lot of time analyzing the Latvian gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5). The composition begins with a remarkable bishop sacrifice, a quiet introduction to beautiful mates.
1.Bg4!! fxg4 2.Rh2 Kf3 [2…f3 3.Qc7#] 3.Qd3 mate.
Or 1…f3 2.Qh2+ Kxg4 3.Qh4 mate;
or 1…Kxg4 2.Rh3 f3 (2…Kg5 3.Qg7 mate) 3.Qh4 mate;
or 1…Kf2 2.Qa7+ Kg3 3.Qg1 mate.
BONUS PUZZLE
White plays and can force a win. Can you find how?
SOLUTION:
1.Rc7! Rxc7 2.Bxc7 Kxh6 (2…Bg6 3.Kg7 followed by 4.h7, wins.) 3.Bf4+ Kg6 4.Bc1 f4 5.Bxf4Zugzwang. White wins the black bishop and the game. The puzzle is from Mihai Suba’s masterpieceDynamic Chess Strategy.
2. Jan Kalendovsky, Brno, The Czech Republic
3. Michal Holes, The Czech Republic
They will receive one year subscription to the New In Chess magazine. How cool. Congratulations to them.
The solutions are shown below.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The contest was done in cooperation with New In Chess. It consisted of three parts: a trivia question, a chess study and a chess problem.
These were the tasks:
TRIVIA
He predicted the opponent and the outcome with these words: “It will by Short and it will be short.” He also likes the movies Casablanca, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Godfather. Who is this grandmaster?
ANSWER: Garry Kasparov
One of Kasparov’s favorite movies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was screened on June 20 at New York’s Bryant Park in front of 10,500 moviegoers. The film director Milos Forman opened the evening.
STUDY
White plays and wins
SOLUTION:
The position is from the game Healy,John – Kaas,E.,
Simultaneous display, Simpson’s, 2009
1.Ne5! The only way to win! The white knight doesn’t allow the black king the pick up the h-pawn. Black is in zugzwang: any king’s move allows 2.h7 and white queens.
Other moves don’t win, for example: 1.Nf4 Kf7 2.Kb2 Kg8 followed by 3…Kh7, draws;
1.Kb2 Kg6 draws as well.
The puzzle is from John Healy’s book Coffeehouse Chess Tactics. The author of the powerful autobiography The Grass Arena pays a tribute to chess, a game that changed his life.
PROBLEM
White plays and mates in three moves
SOLUTION:
Karl Behting’s splendid three-mover was published in the Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1893.
The Latvian chess composer was a strong master who participated in the first chess olympiad in Paris in 1924. He also devoted lot of time analyzing the Latvian gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5). The composition begins with a remarkable bishop sacrifice, a quiet introduction to beautiful mates.
1.Bg4!! fxg4 2.Rh2 Kf3 [2…f3 3.Qc7#] 3.Qd3 mate.
Or 1…f3 2.Qh2+ Kxg4 3.Qh4 mate;
or 1…Kxg4 2.Rh3 f3 (2…Kg5 3.Qg7 mate) 3.Qh4 mate;
or 1…Kf2 2.Qa7+ Kg3 3.Qg1 mate.
BONUS PUZZLE
White plays and can force a win. Can you find how?
SOLUTION:
1.Rc7! Rxc7 2.Bxc7 Kxh6 (2…Bg6 3.Kg7 followed by 4.h7, wins.) 3.Bf4+ Kg6 4.Bc1 f4 5.Bxf4Zugzwang. White wins the black bishop and the game. The puzzle is from Mihai Suba’s masterpieceDynamic Chess Strategy.
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