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« Ace of Spades Pet Thread | Main | Saturday Evening Movie Thread 05-27-2017 [Hosted By: TheJamesMadison] »
May 27, 2017

Saturday Afternoon Chess/Open Thread 05-27-2017


fry laurie chess 1980.jpg
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry playing chess in Fry's rooms at Cambridge, 1980


Good afternoon morons and moronettes, and welcome to the Saturday Afternoon Chess/Open Thread, the only AoSHQ thread with content specifically for all of us chess nerds who pay homage in the temple of Caïssa, goddess of the chessboard. Also, dress pr0n. Each week, for the 'ettes, I try to pick out a few lovely, conservative dresses to ooh and ooh over. And, for those of you who aren't nerdly enough for chess, you can use this thread to talk about checkers, or other games, or politics, or whatever you wish, only please try to keep it civil. Nobody wants to get in the middle of a pie fight on a Saturday afternoon.


Problem 1 - White To Play (209)

Hint: White mates in 3


20170527 - Problem 1.jpg
r3k3/4bR2/pp2P1p1/2pp2qp/3Pp3/4P1P1/PP1B3P/5QK1 w q - 0 1


Problem 2 - Black To Play (191)

There are two paths to victory here. Find both.

Hint: Black mates in 2


20170527 - Problem 2.jpg
4k3/5p2/p3p1p1/1p2P2r/5P2/P1N5/1Pr2qQP/4R1RK b - - 0 1


Problem 3 - White To Play (485)

6...Bg4? was a crappy move for Black. White has just responded 7.Nxe5. Black's choices seem to be either 7...Bxd1 or 7...dxe5. How will White proceed in each case?

Hint: Eat queen, lose game; eat knight, lose queen


20170527 - Problem 3.jpg
rn1qkb1r/ppp2ppp/3p4/4N3/2B3b1/2P5/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 7
After 7.Nxe5


Problem 4 - White To Play (BWTC 145)

Hint: White mates in 4


20170527 - Problem 4.jpg
rnb3kr/ppp2ppp/1b6/3q4/3pN3/Q4N2/PPP2KPP/R1B1R3 w - - 0 1


Endgame of the Week (Endgame 50823)

This is kind of a toughie, so the hint is fairly extensive. It's White to play.

Hint: If it were Black's move, he would move Rc4 and then pick off the pawn next move to secure the draw. White has two choices to prevent this, but only one is correct. Once the correct choice is made, White must proceed carefully, with the knowledge that there are some stalemate opportunities that Black can use to attempt to force the draw.


20170527 - Endgame.jpg
2B5/2P5/8/8/1r6/8/8/k2K4 w - - 0 1


Saturday Dress Pr0n

Here is a screen-shot I grabbed of actress Yvonne Strahovski as "Serena Joy" in the Hulu TV series The Handmaid's Tale. Mrs. Muse helped me add the right amount of light and color to the original picture so the dress can be seen better. In my opinion, it's a bit severe for a formal evening dress, but it is well in keeping with the tenor of the series. Perhaps a string of pearls around her neck would be a nice touch.

Also, Ms. Strahovski actually has a delightful smile, but in this role, she doesn't get many opportunities to show it.


20170528 dress pr0n 34c.jpg

Now here's some old-school beauty:


20170528 dress pr0n 35.jpgClick for larger version


20170528 dress pr0n 36.jpg


Don't know where the first one is from, the the second is a publicity still from the movie Roman Holiday (1953).

I could probably fill up the dress pr0n section every week with shots of Audrey Hepburn. She is truly a classic beauty.


___________

Solutions Update

Problem 1 - White To Play


20170527 - Problem 1.jpg
r3k3/4bR2/pp2P1p1/2pp2qp/3Pp3/4P1P1/PP1B3P/5QK1 w q - 0 1

1.Rf8+ Bxf8
2.Qf7+ Kd8
3.Qd7#

From Damiano vs. SHC (some hapless cretin), 1512. It probably wasn't from an actual game. More likely, it was a study or a theoretical position he discovered.


Problem 2 - Black To Play


20170527 - Problem 2.jpg
4k3/5p2/p3p1p1/1p2P2r/5P2/P1N5/1Pr2qQP/4R1RK b - - 0 1

1...Rxh2+
2.Qxh2 Qxh2#

That's the first path. Or, White could make the initial capture with his king.

2.Kxh2 Qh4#

And that's the second.


Problem 3 - White To Play


20170527 - Problem 3.jpg
rn1qkb1r/ppp2ppp/3p4/4N3/2B3b1/2P5/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 0 7
After 7.Nxe5

7.Nxe5 Bxd1
8.Bxf7+ Ke7
9.Bg5#

Which is a little reminiscent of Légal's mate

But taking the queen isn't forced. Black could always try to take the knight.

7...dxe5
8.Bxf7+ Ke7

Or if 8...Kxf7, then 9.Qxd8

9.Bg5+ Kxf7
10.Qxd8

And White has won the queen.


Problem 4 - White To Play


20170527 - Problem 4.jpg
rnb3kr/ppp2ppp/1b6/3q4/3pN3/Q4N2/PPP2KPP/R1B1R3 w - - 0 1

1.Nf6+ gxf6
2.Qf8+ Kxf8
3.Bh6+ Kg8
4.Re8#


Endgame of the Week


20170527 - Endgame.jpg
2B5/2P5/8/8/1r6/8/8/k2K4 w - - 0 1

So, in order to stop 1...Rc4, White has two options, Ba6 or Be6. The latter leads to failure:

1.Be6? Rb1+
2.Kd2 Rc1
3.Kxc1

Forced, otherwise Rxc7 draw. Only now it's stalemate because the bishop on e6 cuts off the Black king's only escape square. White needs to be constantly on the lookout against these sorts of stalemate threats. This line, by the way, is the reason why 1.Be6 is the wrong move.

The correct move is

1. Ba6!

1...Rd4+

Black wants 2.Kc1 Rc4+ 3.Bxc4 (forced) stalemate. Or 2.Ke1 followed by 2...Re4+ etc. perpetual. White can derail that train with:

2.Bd3 Rxd3+
3.Kc2 Rd4

Another stalemate trap. If now 4.c8=Q then Rc4+ 5.Qxc4 stalemate.

So the solution is to underpromote

4.c8=R Ra4

To guard against Ra8#

5.Kb3 and wins

White threatens both Rc1# and Kxa4 and Black cannot defend against both.

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.

digg this
posted by OregonMuse at 05:07 PM

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