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January 28, 2017
Saturday Afternoon Chess/Open Thread 01-28-2017![]() Warning: Extreme Nerds (OK now, be honest: how many of you could have been in this photo?)
“The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the Universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature and the player on the other side is hidden from us”
Can White do anything about Black's two connected pawns that are on the verge of queening? Hint: Limit Black's moves to force a mate in 2 ![]() 6QK/8/8/8/8/p7/1p6/1k6 w - - 0 1 Problem 2 - Black To Play (387) Hint: Mate in 3 ![]() 5r1k/pp6/8/4b1pp/6p1/1B6/P1q1N2P/4R1KR b - - 0 1
I stole today's pic of nerds in their natural habitat from W1XT's qrz.com page. For you ham radio nerds, he's got great pics of his vintage radios, including a sweet, sweet 'S' Line, fully operational, and looking like it's in mint condition. I think what he's using in the photo is a Heathkit AT-1 transmitter and some sort of Hallicrafters receiver. Me, I used to play chess a lot over ham radio, back in the day, so yeah, I could've been in the photo. In fact, I played what I considered to be my first "serious" game over the radio. In 1972. Not using cw, though, we were on 40m ssb. It lasted over 2 hours. I won in 61 moves, but I was very lucky. Multiple mistakes were made by both of us, but he made the last one. There was an big-time, multi-player chess match that was conducted entirely over the radio. I'm referring, of course, to the 1945 U.S vs. U.S.S.R. Wireless match, that paired the 10 top U.S. players against U.S.S.R's ten best (excepting Paul Keres). Due to Cold War travel restrictions, the moves for each game were relayed back and forth by radio. Each pair of masters played 2 games, and, not to put too fine a point on it, we got our asses handed to us. The final score was 15.5-4.5, but if you look at the results closely, it was actually worse. Our two top boards, Arnold Denker and Sammy Reshevsky, were shut out, 2-0. And on third board, Reuben Fine only managed half a point. The American team only actually won 2 games, the rest of the points coming from draws. Prior to this point, the USA had won four straight Chess Olympiads from 1931 to 1937 (the USSR did not participate), and was considered a chess powerhouse. In the 1930s, our top grandmasters Denker, Fine, and Reshevsky could go toe-to-toe with the world's best and it was thought that the next world champion might be one of the Americans. But then World War II intervened and brought everything to a screeching, grinding halt. But the Soviets had been quietly building their chess program and this wireless match marked the start of their half-century of world domination. Meanwhile, chess in the USA pretty much went into a marked decline, accelerated by Reuben Fine's decision to give up chess at the height of his career because he couldn't make a living at it. And speaking of antique radios, a friend of mine likes to collect them. Here is one of them, an Atwater Kent Model 10C from the 1920s.
Hint: White can win a big material advantage. Anash Giri ![]() 6k1/2R5/2n1r3/5R1B/7P/6P1/7K/4q3 w - - 0 56 Magnus Carlsen After 55...Kg8 Here is a game played by the world champion at a recent tournament. Carlsen played 56.Bf7+ and the game was eventually drawn -- after 123(!) moves. But there is clearly a better move here. See if you can best the world champion by finding the line he missed.
Thanks to AlexTheChick for sending a link to a page of ornate chess sets. Here's one, made by the East India Company in India c. 1830: ![]() (click to embiggen)
Can White win? Show your work. ![]() 6k1/7p/5P1K/8/8/8/7P/8 w - - 0 1
Solutions Update Problem 1 - White To Play ![]() 6QK/8/8/8/8/p7/1p6/1k6 w - - 0 1
The first move is Qb3, and if Black moves Ka1 or Kc1, White can pick off the a-pawn and force Black's king back to b1. Then White moves his king. Black moves, the White queen checks, and forces him back to b1. The White king then moves another square closer. Eventually the White king will be close enough for the queen to take the pawn on b2 with mate. 1. Qb3 Kc1 Not 1...a2 because 2.Qd1# 2.Qxa3 Kc2 This is the position White was trying to get. With the pawn blocked, he can bring his king one square closer, and repeat the process: Slowly he turns... 10...Kc1 Step by step... 14...Ka2 Inch by inch... 17...Kc1 Bang! Pow! Zap!
![]() 6k1/2R5/2n1r3/5R1B/7P/6P1/7K/4q3 w - - 0 56 After 55...Kg8 So instead of 56.Bf7+, Carlsen should have gone with 56. Rc8+! Re8 This is the only reply that avoids checkmate. If 56...Kg7 then 57.Rf7+ Kh6 58.Rh8#. Or 56...Kh7 is met with 57.Rf7+ Kh6 58.Rh8# 57.Rxe8+ Qxe8 You can view the entire, grueling 123 move game here.
![]() 5r1k/pp6/8/4b1pp/6p1/1B6/P1q1N2P/4R1KR b - - 0 1 1...Bd4+! 2.Nxd4 loses to 2...Qf2# 2...Qe4+ Also possible is 2...Rf2+, but it will take longer than 3 moves: 2...Rf2+
![]() 6k1/7p/5P1K/8/8/8/7P/8 w - - 0 1 1.Kg5! Apparently 1.Kh5 fails because of 1...Kf7 2.Kg5 Ke6 3.h3 Kf7 4.Kf5 Kg8 5.Ke4 Kf7 6.Ke5 Ke8 7.Kf5 Kf7 and White can make no progress. 1...Kf7 (or 1...Kf8 is also possible: 2.Kf5 Kf7 3.Ke5 h5 4.h4 Kf8 5.Kf5 Kf7 6.Kg5 Ke6 7.Kg6 wins) 2.Kf5 Kf8 (2...Ke8 3. Ke6 Kf8 4. f7 h5 (4... h6 5. h3 h5 6. h4) 5. h4) 5...h5 (5...h6 6.h4 h5 7.Kg6 wins) Hope to see you all next week! ___________ Note: that cryptic line of letters and numbers you see underneath each board diagram is a representation of the position in what is known as "Forsyth-Edwards Notation", or F.E.N. It's actually readable by humans. Most computer applications nowadays can read FEN, so those of you who may want to study the position, you can copy the line of FEN and paste into your chess app and it should automatically recreate the position on its display board. Or, Windows users can just "triple click" on it and the entire line will be highlighted so you can copy and past it into your chess app. ___________ So that about wraps it up for this week. Chess thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to my yahoo address: OregonMuse little-a-in-a-circle yahoo dott com. | Recent Comments
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