2rq1r1k/1p1b4/p2p1pQ1/3N2p1/2P1P3/1P4R1/P5PP/6K1 w - - 0 1

Dress Pr0n For The 'Ettes:

The epitome of classic fashion. This red velvet Chanel dress fits perfectly in a Parisian courtyard, photographed by Mark Shaw, 1955. See the full image: https://t.co/o0HvjYn5zO pic.twitter.com/pOzx23wjdO

— Ephemeral Elegance (@drapedinhistory) August 6, 2018

Greetings From Bosnia-Herzegovina

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Solutions Update

Easier Problem - White To Play

4k3/7R/7R/8/8/2K5/q7/8 w - - 0 1

1.Ra7!

Attacks the queen and also threatens Rh8#. What can Black do?

Answer: Not much. If he takes the rook, 1...Qxa7 then he loses the queen to a skewer attack:

2.Rh8+ Kd7
3.Rh7+ Kc6
4.Rxa7 and wins

Or, Black can try to defend his back rank, but it is insufficient:

1...Qg8
2.Ra8+ Kf7
3.Rxg8 Kxg8 and White wins

More Challenging Problem - White To Play

2rq1r1k/1p1b4/p2p1pQ1/3N2p1/2P1P3/1P4R1/P5PP/6K1 w - - 0 1

Even though there is a line starting with 1.Qh6+ that leads to mate, that is, 1.Qh6+ Kg8 2.Nxf6+ Qxf63. Rxg5+ Kf7 4.Qh5+ Ke7 5.Rg7+ Ke6 6.Qd5#, it is not forced and Black can easily avoid it with, for example, 2... Rxf6 3. Rxg5+ Kf7 4. Qg7+ Ke6 and White's attack sputters out. The correct first move is to increase pressure on the f6 pawn with

1.Rf3!

Black has 3 ways to defend:

A) 1...f5?? fails immediately to 2.Rh3#

B) 1...Be6 2.Nxf6 Rxf6 3.Rxf6 and Black will have to give up his queen to stop the mating threats.

C) 1...Qe8 and now White can play Qh6+, i.e.

2.Qh6+ Kg8
3.Rxf6 Rxf6
4.Nxf6+ Kf7
5.Nxe8 Kxe8
6.Qxg5 and White will eventually be able to queen his connected g and h pawns and win.

Hope to see you all next week!

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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 paste it into your chess app.

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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.

posted by OregonMuse at 05:17 PM

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