Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
White to play and mate Black (with a twist)
Hartlaub v Walle, Bremen 1923
Solution
'Fairly' standard today: just a bit of calculation required to put the moves into order, and one pretty move at the end. For what I mean by 'fairly', see tomorrow's post.
1 Re7! Qe7[] 2 Rf6!
2… gf[] 3 Nf5
3…Qe4
4 Qg5+! 1-0 since 4…gh 5 Nh6 mate.
Very pretty.
Puzzle
What's the twist?
Posted with BlogsyAnother puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
Black to play and mate White.
Serbasin v Sozin, Novogorod 1923
Solution
The first problem in the book that I totally failed with: 1…Qb6!! is the stunning first move. Of course, I had similar motifs in my mind (the b line, the jump-check Rb1, the jump-check Bh6-c1) but didn't have the imagination to see this move.
The move is a double attack. On the LPDO Be3 and LPDO Pb2: so 2 Bb6 Ne2 mate.
Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
White to play and mate Black.
Morra v unknown, Nica 1923 (I assume Nica means Nice, France).
Solution
I assume White is the player after whom the Morra Gambit is played (one of my main lines in blitz, however bad a line it is: plenty of good defences for Black, but plenty of bad lines too, and so much fun).
It is immediately clear that the aim has to be to throw away the two Knights, and check on the h file with Rook or Queen or both, and maybe with a Bh5+/Bf7 discovery idea too.
My first try was to throw away the Nh4 with 1 Ng6, but this only wins slowly: 1…Qg6. So 1 Ng5+! hg 2 Rh3! aiming to discover with the N.
Black has several defences, all met in similar fashion.
Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
White to play and mate Black.
Euwe v Loman, Rotterdam 1923
Solution
Part of my chess education: 1 Nd4 Bd4 2 Qh8+! is a pretty mating line: 2.. Bh8 3 Rh8 mate.
Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
White to play and mate Black.
Euwe v Loman, Rotterdam 1923
Solution
Part of my chess education: 1 Nd4 and after 1…Bd4, 2 Qh8+! mates.
Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
Black to play and mate White.
Verescagin v Arklin, Tambow 1923
Solution
A nice puzzle: 1…Qf5!, and if 2 Bc6, 2…Qh3+!!
3 gh[[ Bc6+ 4 Kh2 Ng4+! and mate on the h file.
Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
White to play and mate Black.
Capablanca v unknown, simultaneous 1923
Solution
First of all, you notice White is a Queen down, so it must be a series of checks. And it isn't too hard: 1 Nf6+ so that if 1…gf 2 Bf6 and the pinned Rf7 means that next move 3 Rh8 mate. So better is 1…Kf8 when 2 Rh8+ Ke7[] and now 3 Re8+! Re8[] 4 Rd7+ Kf8[] 5 Rf7 mate.
Another puzzle from Dragoslav Andric's 1981 book “Matni Udar”.
White to play and mate Black.
Place v unknown, Paris 1922
Solution
Standard: 1 Rf6!, and after 1…Bd1 (1…Qf6 is just trivial: 2 Qg4+ and 3 Bf6) 2 Rg6+ and a staircase mate. 3 Rg7+, 4 Rh7+, 5 Rh8 mate.
One of the very best chess writers at the moment is the English GM Matthew Sadler.
Whilst on holiday, I have enjoyed reading his (and Natasha Regan's) excellent book Chess for Life.
A book to savour and study: wonderful chapters on several players, but I particularly enjoyed those on Sergey Tiviakov and Keith Arkell.
A few years ago, I read Matthew's 'Study Chess', which is also worth a read: it is on my re-read list, having so much enjoyed Chess for Life and through it found his great website, matthewsadler.me.com.
The site has a 'subscribe to' facility, through which I now get email alerts, and have just played through a wonderfully annotated game of Matthew's. Matthew's great skill is explaining in words more than calculations, giving his readers a lot of educational material.
How Matthew would have won from this position, the type of advantage we have all had over the years (and often permitted to fritter out to a draw) is very instructive. See his article for his explanation.
…to play someone at chess.
The local game is backgammon, with it being the norm to see men playing it at local bars; and there are always backgammon sets at beach clubs and on boats, and we have a lovely one for our guests to use at Sundown Villa.
The other almost as common game is Okey, a dominoes type game, which I am told is principally chance. Again, on any walk round Kas you can see Turkish men playing Okey, with the rattle and clatter of the pieces, in their bars.
But not chess.
The tourist shops are full of chess boards, mainly ornate ones, so presumably some tourists buy them. But I have never seen people playing chess in Kas, else I would have joined them and asked for a game. I have been on the look out for each of our nine visits.
Yesterday, we were at our favourite beach, Nuri's, at Limanagzi, and for part of the time, I was going through an old game with an article about it.
As Jane knows all too well, when I am studying chess, I am oblivious to the outside world. Sophie told me that the waiter kept looking and smiling each time he passed and saw the set. I hadn't even noticed him. Eventual he came back and crouched down by my sunbed, and we started a conversation. I asked him if he played chess, and he said he liked it very much. I asked him if he wanted a game, and he was very keen.
We set the pieces up, and, of course, shook hands.
Let battle begin
Mert was a decent player: he played sensibly in the opening, a King's Gambit, but once in the middle game his position deteriorated rapidly, and eventually the game ended in a pretty checkmate.
Several minutes later, Mert came back and asked if we could email him the pictures. From then on, for the rest of the afternoon, we had lovely friendly smiles each time he walked past on his round.
A wonderful experience. Once again, by hobby has provided happy experiences.
allanbeardsworth 