The Chess Mind

From Efimenko-Bu Xiangzhi:



It's White to move; should he play 40.g4? (No comments this time, please.) The solution will be given in a day or two.

Have a look at this position, from the recent game Karim - Zhu Chen.



It's White to move, but the first question that comes to mind is, why bother? Isn't this an obviously dead drawn position? Perhaps it is, but I leave proving it up to you. I'll present the rest of the game, with comments on the ending, in a few days; for now, your analysis is welcome - feel free to comment your ideas, below.

It feels like I posted the following puzzle about a week ago, but it was only yesterday!



It's White to move. What can he do about the terrible threat of 1...Rb1? The spectacular answer can be found here.

It's too late to enter it, but the various prize-winning entries can be found here as a PDF, and you can download the problems as a PGN by going here and then scrolling down for it. This tournament will keep everyone busy!

(In passing, for those who will check it out, there's a cook of the Gurgenidze & Akobia entry. It's not mentioned in the PDF, but in the PGN file the line "7.Rd3+? Kxd3 8.d8Q Kc2" is given, presumably as an argument for the necessity of 7.Rd4, the main move. Unfortunately, the position after 8...Kc2 is an easy win for White, starting with the obvious 9.Qc7/8+.)

I found (and to my pleasure, solved) the following position, #497 in John Emms' The Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book (Gambit, 2000):



It's White to move, and in view of the threatened 1...Rb1 the situation looks dire. What should he do? Please don't offer answers in the comments for this one; I'll supply the answer in a day or two.

In case you needed a reminder about how difficult chess is, I think the third of our Wijk aan Zee warmup puzzles will do that with alarm bells. We started with this fairly innocent looking endgame, from a game played in Holland many years ago between G. Van Keulen and G. R. D. Van Doesburgh:



It's White to move, and although he's down a pawn his king position offers serious compensation. What's the right result? Well, I think it's a draw, but it's the proof that's difficult. In the March 1956 issue of the (now-defunct) Chess Review, Dutch legend and former world chess champion Max Euwe analyzed this ending in great detail, but as you'll see from the game file, he made many errors in his analysis. It's all so easy for us now to think we know what's going on thanks to Fritz, Rybka and the rest, but when we're forced on our own resources, things prove more difficult. The way to improve, of course, is to turn off the engine and switch on our minds and practice, practice, practice.

So give this ending a shot before you check out Euwe's analysis (with my critiques). And note: even that analysis is incomplete - it's just commentary on his commentary! I did my own analysis before working through his, which I may present in a later post. Meanwhile, readers are encouraged to offer their analytical efforts, as well as third-order comments on what's given.

The analysis can be replayed here.

In addition to Wijk aan Zee and the Israel International Championship, another noteworthy event is ongoing: the Armenian Championship. Not all their best players are in the event (Aronian and Sargissian are in WaZ, and Vaganian is absent as well), but it's still a strong tournament, featuring Tigran L. Petrosian (leading by a full point and a half after just five rounds!), Asrian, Lputian, Artashes Minasian and other strong GMs.

As with the Israeli tournament mentioned in the previous post, here too one game caught my eye. This time it was an ending that grabbed my attention - have a look.

The Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee starts this weekend (more about this later today), so to help you get your chess muscles cracking, here are three challenging (but not impossible) exercises for you to work on.

First up, we have this puzzler from a 1968 game between Estonian legend Paul Keres and Lithuanian IM Vladas Mikenas.



It's White to move, and your task is this: determine what trap Black has in store for White if he plays 19.Qe1, and assess it.

Next up, we have this funny position, with both sides attacking; it's White to move.



Finally, we end, appropriately enough, with an endgame. This comes from Max Euwe's column in the March 1956 issue of Chess Review. (More about this later; for now, I'll just offer the link for those interested in picking up old editions of Chess Life and Chess Review on disc, in PDF format - it's here).



Black has an extra pawn in his pocket, but White's king is more than a little better placed than Black's. It's White to move; what's the proper result? (Prove your work: there will be a test!)

Normally, I'm insistent that my readers work out these problems on their own, without posting comments presenting their answers (or even their guesses). This time around, I'm in the mood for making an exception. Post away! The only thing I request is that you don't comment if you're using a chess engine. That's a pretty pointless exercise for everyone involved. (Those who want to avoid spoilers are offered obvious advice - stay away from the comments.)

Have fun, and remember, this is to warm you up for this weekend!

A couple of days ago I offered this position, from my recent game with NM Greg Small, from round 6 of the North American Open:



We've just made the time control, and now it's time for my 41st move. After being somewhat worse for much of the game, the tables had turned and now I stood better; in fact, White is winning here. But could I prove it? Could you? It took a while before I worked everything out, but ultimately the game had a happy ending for White. To see the finish and test your solving skills, click here.

Over the next few days, I'll present some snapshots from my play in the North American Open this past week. Rather than start from the beginning (how mundane!), we'll begin with my win over Greg Small from the penultimate round. Despite having the White pieces, I stood worse most of the way, but from around moves 32-37 I think he drifted from somewhat better to equal to worse. After making the time control (40/2), we reached this position; it's White to move:



What should I do? The answer will be provided in a day or two. (Meanwhile, please don't comment your guesses - let others figure it out for him- or herself!)