The Chess Mind

Yesterday I offered this position, from a 1944 battle between future world champion Mikhail Botvinnik and one Abram Khavin:



It's Black to move, and the question is whether he can safely grab on d4. When you think you've got it figured out, click below.

Here's the position after White's 23rd move in the game Botvinnik-Khavin, USSR Championship 1944:



The question is, should Black grab the pawn on d4, or not? The answer will be given tomorrow.

A chess acquaintance and reader of this blog played a game with a very nice finish the other day and wanted me to see it. I'm glad I did, and am happy to pass it along to you.



Black's king is in big trouble, and there is more than one way for White to win. But what's the fastest and most elegant means to that end? The solution may not be so difficult, but it is (1) attractive, (2) was found in a blitz game, and (3) was found without someone standing there telling him to look for something special.

The answer is available if you click below.

In this post, I presented the following position:


Kaidanov-Anand, Moscow 1987

It's Black to move, faced with the simple but significant threat of 25.Qh8#. What should he do? The answer, along with comments to this entire, most interesting game, are here.

Gregory Kaidanov is one of the U.S.'s strongest grandmasters, though over the past few years he has spent more time as a trainer than a player. He just turned 50 this past Sunday, and to commemorate the occasion we'll have a look at one of his biggest scalps:


Kaidanov-Anand, Moscow 1987

White sacrificed a piece several moves ago, and now threatens 25.Qh8#. What should Black do? Try to support your conclusion with variations.

The solution will be given tomorrow.

This is not from the super-GM event, but a concurrent women's tournament. Here's the position:



It's White to move in the game Shen Yang - Zhu Chen; Black has just played 25...Na5. Assess the position, trying to get the most you can out of White's game.

The answer, and the whole game, are here.

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.

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.

In a couple of recent games at the Maia Chiburdanidze Cup, the talented young Slovenian IM Anna Muzychuk had a couple of textbook tactical finishes.


(Source: Wikipedia, Photo: Paweł Suwarski)

In the first, she was the victim:


Dzagnidze-Muzychuk, Maia Chiburdanidze Cup 2009, Round 6: White to move and win.

And in the second, she got to be the hero:


Muzychuk-Galojan, Maia Chiburdanidze Cup 2009, Round 8: White to move and win.

The solutions can be found here.

A couple of days ago, I presented this position



from a game between reader Tomislav Damjanovic and ChessMaster personality "Buck". It's White to move, and while there's more than one good move here, it seems to me that one continuation - the one White found and played - is significantly better than the others. Did you find the solution? The answer is here.

Here's a position pregnant with possibility:


T. Damjanovic - "Buck" (A ChessMaster "personality")

White (to move) has more than one good option, but what's best? The answer will be given in a day or two.

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).

It has been a while now, but in this post and then this one, we took a look at this position:



The primary task was to analyze the position after 11.Rf3 Bxc3 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Rh3+ Kg8 14.Qh5



and to see what you could come up with. Some of you undoubtedly worked everything out, but for the rest of you, you might want to have a look at my ChessVideos show this week (link here). I cover this position in some detail, but only after first giving an overview on the typical themes and preconditions for the "Greek gift" sacrifice. Have a look - it's free, requires no special software, and is available on-demand for the next five weeks or so.

* (Actually, it's last week's show, but ChessVideos.tv needed to switch servers. Everything's back and running at full blast, it seems.)

Earlier this evening, we had a quick play (g/10) at the club, and in round 1 I reached the following position (with White):



Black has just played 15...Rh3-h6, saving the rook and preventing mate on e6. With two extra pawns and Black's miserable king where it is, it's clear that White is winning with room to spare. But what's the best move? The answer is below.

From the first round game Akobian-Hilton, Foxwoods 2009:



It's White to move, and while almost any normal move is "winning" (White enjoys a decisive material advantage and a better position), let's look for the best move we can find.

The game (and the answer), with my comments, can be replayed here.