The Chess Mind

In this post, I presented the following position, taken from a ChessBase article:


D. Djaja 1972; White to move and draw

The story was that this position had stumped many strong GMs, both back around the time of its composition and more recently, at the Mainz festival a few weeks ago - and this despite at least some of them spending half an hour on it.

I had intended to leave the solution to the ChessBase people, but as they haven't gotten around to it in a couple of weeks, I'll go ahead and supply the answer. Click below.

Here's a position from one D. Djaja, composed in 1972; it's White to move and draw:



According to GM Jan Hein Donner in The King, neither he nor Paul Keres and some other notables managed to solve it despite trying for more than half an hour (this was many years ago), and apparently no one who saw this at Mainz (which just ended) did any better.

Patzers! I looked at it for around 10 minutes - no chess engine running - and solved it. Before you confer the title of solving legend on me (or the more dubious title of "colossal underachiever"), a confession is in order: almost as soon as I solved it, I remembered having seen this problem before, or else one with a similar drawing motif. It didn't pop into my mind before I had the "aha" moment, but that doesn't mean that somewhere, subconsciously, my "homunculus" wasn't in some sense aware of it. At any rate, it's a nice problem, and if you can solve it without moving pieces or using an engine and without having seen it or anything like it before, you certainly deserve a pat on the back.

HT: ChessBase.com, which will present the solution in a little less than a week. I won't steal their thunder by presenting it here or in a follow-up post, so those of you who don't solve it or who lack engines will just have to wait.

The following position is offered as a little puzzle on the ChessBase news site.



It's Black to move in the game Litwak-Savchenko, played a couple of weeks ago in an under-tournament at Dortmund, and after 53...Kc5 54.Kf2 Kd6 the players agreed to a draw. Was anything better available to either player? You'll find the answer here, by endgame maven GM Karsten Müller.

And not just any opposite-colored bishop ending, but the one I presented as an analysis project on the blog about a month ago. There are undoubtedly many ways for White to proceed, but the key is to grasp the right methods and principles. Once one understands them, the job becomes a lot easier, so I've structured my presentation along those lines. It is my hope that once you've finished watching this video, you'll have a good grasp of several key elements of opposite-colored bishop endings, which you will be able to successfully apply in your own games.

Have a look, here, and let me know what you conclude. The video is free (free registration is required), and will be available to you on-demand for about the next month or so.

One of the most common imbalances in chess is that of bishop vs. knight. In the abstract, the pieces are of approximately equal value, but when we look at real positions it's often the case that one piece or the other confers a real advantage to its owner. It's probably true that bishops are more often advantageous, but again, specifics rule here. As all of you have surely noticed, there are many times when the knight is the better piece, and in this week's ChessVideos show you'll see two such cases.

In both, there's a situation where the side with the bishop has all its pawns on the same color square as the bishop, and gets dominated on the opposite color complex. The knight has all the fun there, but turning it into a win often takes some doing. The value of this week's presentation is that it will help us figure out how to win such positions, and there's the further benefit that once one grasps some of the main ideas, they will work in a great many cases. So invest a little time (but no money) now, and enjoy the dividends later!

The show is here, free (but registration is required), and available on demand for about the next month or so.

Here's the position, again:


Wotawa 1963; White to move and draw

Were you able to solve it? White cannot allow Black to queen, so he must take the pawn. But which way? To figure that out, we must first figure out what Black is up to. After all, Black is not exactly promoting anything on the kingside, while a 4-0 queenside majority is normally enough to force a queen (and then some). We then notice that White's king is rather constrained, and a move like ...f6+ or ...h6+ puts it on the edge of the board, awaiting a cruel fate.

The problem with ...f6+ is that after Kh5, it will be impossible to mate with ...g6. That's because White will have Kh6, and Black can't put his king on g7 while his pawn remains there. So now we can work out the threat: Black will play ...h6+, scoot his king to h7, and play ...g6#. Note: even a White queen, with the move after ...Kh7, will generally be powerless against this idea. In fact, there's only one promotion square for a new queen that will allow a white queen to cope with this possibility.

If you hadn't worked it out before the hints, those will probably get you most if not all of the way there. But if not, that's okay too. You can find the solution here.

Well, it's at least relatively easy. (But not trivially easy. Black has a threat!)


Wotawa 1963; White to move and draw.

The solution will be given tomorrow.

Rather than allowing the previous post to have comments, it seemed a better idea to reserve this post for that purpose. So have a look there to see the problem, and then offer your solutions here.

Visiting my friend Alex Herrera's correspondence chess website, I came across this position:


(His diagram and arrow.)

It's from the game Walters-Herrera, USCCC18, and of it Alex writes "Draw". Does this mean that the position is a draw (objectively) or that it wound up drawn, or both? Was 1.Kxf6 played, or should it be played, or is it White's threat but with Black to move? I have answers to some but not all of these questions, but for the sake of simplicity, let's set things up this way:

Suppose it's White to move. What should he do, and what's the right result? Work it out, but save your answers for a second post, so that those who come across this post later don't have the solution spoiled for them. I'll offer my thoughts later - if necessary. (If my talented and industrious readers work it out themselves, all that will be left for me is to say yea and amen.)

Here's the problem, again:


Wotawa 1937, White to move and win:

As noted in the earlier post, White has loads of extra material, but Black's passers are very dangerous. And the other relevant issue is the precarious location of Black's king. At the end of the day, that's what matters; as an old chess friend liked to say, what counts is that we get the guy with the hat on his head. (Of course, the bishop has one too, but never mind!) When you think you've got it figured out, or are tired of trying, click here.

Another nice Wotawa study from the Dvoretsky & Pervakov book:


Wotawa 1937; White to move and win

White has lots of extra material, Black has the dangerous passed pawns. How will White win this? The answer will be given tomorrow - please save your comments for that post.

Here's the problem, presented yesterday:


Wotawa 1935

It's White to move and win; can you solve it? The answer, which I sincerely hope you'll try to work out for yourself, can be found here.

Here's a neat little study from the Dvoretsky & Pervakov book:


Wotawa 1935; White to move and win.

I was pleased to solve it, and somewhat surprised by the way it happened. It's not that the position is that difficult, but the solution came to me in a flash (after thinking for a while - not right away!), as if it were a gift and not the product of mental labor.

However you solve it - as long as it is you who solves it - I'm sure you'll enjoy the success of figuring it out. I'll give the answer in a day or two; meanwhile, if you have comments about it, please do not include anything that could be used as a hint (or worse).

In round 2 of the MTel Masters, Ivanchuk fell for a very nice trick against Wang Yue and lost a king and pawn with two extra pawns. Prior to that, he had been pressing, but nothing close to a win - or at least so I thought. Frits Fritschy wrote in to say that in this position, after Black's 43rd move, Ivanchuk had a win.

If you want to figure out what that win might have been, here's your chance. To see what F.F. thinks it was, click on.

For those who like marathons, click to your heart's content.

Yesterday I presented these positions; in both cases, it's White to move and draw.





Were you successful? The first one is very simple - it's something you either "see" or you don't, but practically no calculation is required. The second is more challenging, and includes an attractive false lead.

The solutions are here, for anyone who might need them.

Here are two puzzles for your solving pleasure. The solutions will be given tomorrow.





It's White to move and draw in both cases.

Earlier in the week I presented this position from a local event:



It's Black to move here, and this battle of the B-players continued in the way you can see here. I recommended, and still recommend, that interested readers look through this ending first and try to figure out what should have happened. There were mistakes aplenty in the game, and trying to discover them in analysis is a good way to avoid making them for ourselves in the context of a game. My own findings, which you can replay for entertainment, instruction, or to compare notes, are here.

A couple of days I presented this position



and suggested that White was in bad shape. (Not that you needed anyone to tell you!) He's a pawn down, his d-pawn needs constant supervision, and the threat of ...h6-h5 looks likely to stretch his meager resources too thin. And yet, the position really can be saved, as you can see for yourself (if you haven't already figured it out) by clicking here.

This is a position from a recent quad at one of the local clubs; it's Black to move.



First, I recommend to those who are interested that they do their best to figure out what's going on here. Next, have a look at the remaining moves, here. Try to find all the improvements you can; believe me, there are plenty (some obvious, some less so), so it's going to be a fun exercise. I'll offer my analysis in a few days.

(N.B. I'm not blocking comments on this exercise, but I'd still prefer that readers not post their analysis of this ending. You're more than welcome to add your further ideas or corrections when I post my own analysis later this week.)