allanbeardsworth

White to play and win

A Grischuk v S Karjakin FIDE Grand Prix, Baku 2014

Solution

A really tough puzzle. I would never have considered the winning move had it been a game, and knowing it is a puzzle, it still took me a good while to solve.

1 Bf8!! threatens 2 Nh6 mate.

Black has many defences.

1…Nf8 is natural, but 2 Nh6+Kg7[] 3 Rdf1 (bringing more pieces to the party, or, to use one of Jacob Aagaard's phrases, Revolution followed by Evolution). If say 3…Rc7 4 Rf8 Qf8 5 Qg5 mate.

1…h5 was what took me longest to crack, 2 Nh6+ Kh7 3 Nf7!.

Again, black has several choices, a sensible one being 3…Qf8 but it loses to 4 Rh5+ Kg6 5 Nh8+ and if 5….Kh5 6 g4+ Kh4[] 7 Ng6 mate.

I wonder how much Alexander saw? To me, there are two many variations to fathom, and whilst I could see many lines, I couldn't see all. On the off chance that I were to see 1 Bf8 in a game, I would only play it if I couldn't see anything safer, or if I was feeling sufficiently confident or reckless to give it a go.

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White to play and win

White missed the winning line in this position, which I saw in Malcolm Pein's Daily Telegraph column. The fact that a world class player missed the line shows it is one to study.

Lenier Dominguez v Rustam Kazimdzhanov FIDE Grand Prix, Baku Sept 2014

Solution

At first, I couldn't solve this puzzle, so as is my wont, I tore the positon out of my paper, and carefully, without looking, also tore off the solution.

Clipping in my pocket, it took one standard British unit of time measurement to solve it- the time to make cup of tea, by which time I had the light bulb moment, and had earned a smile. One of the joys of chess to me is to be able to enjoy the little moments when positions are solved, especially as here when they are nice.

Looking at the Purdy motifs, examine all biffs leads to Nb6?? and similarly bad moves like Ne7+ Nf6+ Bf8 Qd4 Qe5 all of which are atrocious, and even c5 falls within the same mantra. The jump biff Qe4-b7 is flagged, as well as the examine all pins, nets, forks and ties: the Rd7 is tied to defending the Qb7 (from the jump biff) and Ne7+ would fork K and R.

Putting all these together leads to 1 Ne7+!! Re7[] (1…K moves, Qs are exchanged, then Nc8, and white is a rook up) 2 Be7 Qe7[] 3 Qd4! exploiting the Q and R e file alignment. If 3…Qb7+, 4 Qd5+ (or 4 Qe4), so it is game over.

Position before 3 Qd4!

Very nice.

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Black to play and win

A calculation exercise. Try and find a clear and clean win.

Alana L'Ami – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, 4/10/14, Isle of Man

Solution

The conclusion of a nicely played round one pairing. I had logged on to Playchess to watch Mickey Adams and Nigel Short, but to fill the screen, added one or two others. MVL had gained the advantage when I logged on, but converted what might have become messy by very simple means, and here he converted neatly.

I suspect around here, and perhaps before, he saw 'everything' because he played all his remaining moves instantly. Watching live, I couldn't keep up, and each time as I calculated and almost got there, he moved: showing to me the great class difference. The top players really do play a different game.

1…Rg2! 2 Kg2 Qe4+ 3 Kh3 Be6+ 4 g4 Qf3+ 5 Rg3 (5 Kh4 g5+! 6 Kg5 Qf6+ 7 Kh5 Qh6 mate)

…and whilst I was calculating 5….Qf1+ 6 Kh4 g5+ and 7 Rg2 Bg4+, MVL played the far better 5….Bg4+!

If 6 Kh4 black can choose either g5+/Qf5+/Qh5mate or Qf6+/Qf5+/Qh5 mate, both equally nice and efficient.

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Black to play and win

Doofen- AWB,ICC 3 min blitz, Oct 2014

Solution

A few motifs fit together. The g2 pawn is pinned by the Bc6, so doesn't protect the Ph3. So the Re3 is tied to defending the Ph3, but also has a role defending the Be5. There is a jump biff Qh6-e3 so the Pf4 is pinned, and once the rooks on e1 are exchanged, the Re3 is no longer protected by the Q, and is thus LPDO.

So, 1…Re1+! 2 Qe1 Re5! and if 2 Re5, Qh3+ and mates; or if 2 fe, 2…Qe3 is 0-1. In the game, I saw these ideas, and played 1…Re5! with precisely the same idea, and it wins in the same way.

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White to play and win

AWB – Hugo, ICC 3 min blitz, Sept 2014

Solution

Examine all biffs requires a player to look at Qf6??, Bb5?? and Qd5; and threats to biff, Re8+??, from which it is noted that the Nf6 is tied to defending both Rd5 and e8, and also the king is in a net, since the Bd3 looks at h7.

So putting everything together, and seeing it all fits neatly together, 1 Qd5! is 1-0, since capturing the queen loses to 2 Re8 mate.

Not hard, but still pretty.

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White to play and win

Allanbeard v Lorien, ICC 3 min blitz, October 2014

Worth analysing black's various defences.

Solution

A pretty finish to a typical IQP game.

1 Qh6! and white wins. The main line is 1….Qc3 2 Qh7+ Kf8[] 3 Re6! reaching the following position, where there are still variations to explore.

Rather than give a full analysis in this blog, I have annotated the game here.

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White to play: can he play 1 Bh6+!?

Tetrarch-AWB, ICC 3-0 blitz, Sept 14

Solution

No, though he did, and after 1 Bh6+?? Kh6 2 Qf6, black won by 2…Nd2! and white’s king is in a mating net.

Black can escape the checks: 3 Qh8+ Kg5[] 4 Qd8+[] 5 f4+[] ef 6 gf+ [] Kg4 7 Qc8+ f5 and the checks are over (save a desperado Ne5+) so the game is over.

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White to play and win

AWB-Kyev, ICC 3-0 blitz Sept 14

Solution

No prizes for guessing the opening, my beloved (but rubbish) Morra gambit against the Sicilian.

1 Bf7+! (Examine all biffs: also ignore threats, imagine they can't possibly be implemented) and white wins.

If black takes the B, then 2 Qc4+, and if Be6, 3 Ng5+ Kg6 4 Rd5! etc; if after 2 Qc4+, black retreats his king to the back rank, then the LPDO Bc8 drops off, as LPDOs tend to do.

There are plenty of other lines, but similar carnage occurs: eg 2…Kg6 3 Nh4+ and mates.

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White to play and win

Lev Aronian- Ruslan Ponomariov, Bilbao 15/9/14

Seen in Malcolm Pein's Daily Telegraph column. A difficult one, see below for Malcolm's hint (which didn't help me to solve it, I still struggled).

Hint

Malcolm gave a hint 'think what would you play if black were to play Kh3”.

Solution

A real challenge for me. The hint didn't help. I knew black's king had to be in a mating net if white were to win, but what to play?

Eventually I returned to CJS Purdy's basics.

One net: black's king is somewhat short of space;

Three ties: the queen is tied to defending the Bc7 and Ph6; and the Bc7 tied to watching the b8 promotion square;

Two LPDOs: the pawns on a5 and f5. (LPDOs being John Nunn, not Cecil Purdy)

Examine all biffs: and this gave the solution: 1 Be6! when there we several variations to calculate, but as soon as I saw the move (which took me a long while) I intuitively knew I had solved the positon. Very nice.

For the full game, with some annotations, see the Chessbase article here.

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White to play and win

P Eljanov v I Novikov Israeli championships 2011

Solution

Another 'stinker' from Malcolm Pein's Daily Telegraph column. As mentioned in an earlier posting, I tear out and keep for a rainy day (or, in this case, a train journey) any whose puzzles I can't solve by inspection.

Here, the motifs are fairly apparent: the jump biff Qd1-d8; the Nf6+ discovery on the queen, the tie of the Nc6 to the Qd8….but how to exploit them?

Examine all biffs eventually led me to 1 Be7! and as soon as I saw it, I knew the problem was solved. If 1…Be7, 2 Ne7+ and the queen drops off, and if 2…Qe7 3 Re7 Ne7 4 Qd8+ 1-0; 1…Ne7, 2 Nf6+ 1-0. So instead black has to grovel with something like 1…Qc8 and allow his king's protection to be shattered.

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