The Chess Mind

Round 1 of the Russian Championship Megasuperduperfinal is history, and here are the results:

Svidler - Rychagov 0-1
Dreev - Grischuk 1/2-1/2
Amonatov - Timofeev 1-0
Inarkiev - Sakaev 1/2-1/2
Jakovenko - Morozevich 1/2-1/2
Vitiugov - Tomashevsky 0-1

All the games (but one) were hard-fought, with the crazy Jakovenko-Morozevich game getting top honors there. However, I'll leave working out the complications of that game to my intrepid readers (you can find the game in PGN here). Instead, we'll have a look at the spectacular finish of the Amonatov-Timofeev game.



It's White to move and win. If you think you've got it figured out, or if you want a hint, click below.

A couple of days ago this innocent-looking diagram may have reflected photons to your eyeballs:



The task: Figure out how Nigel Short, White against Hannes Stefansson (Reykjavik 2002), managed to win.

The first move is pretty obvious: 1.Bd5. Black can't defend f7 a fourth time, and 1...Rxd5 is met by 2.e7. But if you left it at that, you didn't really solve the problem, because after, say, 2...Re5 3.exf8Q+ Kxf8 or 2...Rd2+ 3.R1f2 Rxf2+ 4.Rxf2 Bd7 5.exf8Q+ Kxf8 6.Kg3 Be6 White has a lot of work ahead of him.

The real key to the position, after 1.Bd5! Rxd5 2.e7 Re5 (2...Rd2+ 3.Kg3 will come to something similar, while 2...Rg5 3.Kh3 forces Black to play something like 3...Re5 - essentially the main line), is the move 3.Rxg6+!!



That is the heart of the solution, and Stefansson resigned here. After 3...hxg6 4.h7+ Black's king is overloaded: 4...Kg7 5.exf8Q+ Kxf8 6.h8Q+ and, for good measure, 7.Qxe5+ with complete destruction. A beautiful combination!

To replay that combination, together with the rest of the game, click here.

A few days ago, I offered four studies for your solving pleasure. Each is contemporary, reasonably gamelike, and shows something special in its solution. Here are the positions again:


Pervakov 2000; White to move and draw.


Matous 2003; White to move and win.


Matous 2003; White to move and win.


D. Gurgenidze and Akobija 2005; White to move and win.

When you're ready to see the solutions, click here.

This is a nice one:



Can White (to move) make something good happen? (And if so, how?) The answer will be given in a couple of days. (Please don't put your answers/guesses in the comments.)

By this I don't mean that it's time for us to study, but time to look at and solve some studies. Some time ago, when I was lamenting about the 2006 "Study of the Year" (not that it's a bad study, but just one that seems unworthy of such an honor), I wrote a prominent study composer of my acquaintance. His remark was that while some shared my view about the SOTY, there were still plenty of fantastic, accessible, gamelike studies being composed, and he passed along four of them. And now, I pass them along to you.


Pervakov 2000; White draws


Matous 2003; White wins


Matous 2003; White wins


D. Gurgenidze and Akobija, 2005; White wins

The answers will be given in a few days. (Reminder: please be courteous; do not comment solutions here or elsewhere on the blog.)