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.

A couple of days ago I offered this position from a blitz game between Alexey Korotylev and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. It's Black to move and win.



Worked it out? If so, and you want to check your answer, or even if not and you simply want relief, enlightenment is but a click away.

Here's a new one, from a 2007 blitz game between Alexey Korotylev and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov:



It's Black (Mamedyarov) to move. Try to find the right move and all the key justifications. It can't be that hard, can it? After all, it's from a blitz game.

The solution will be given in a day or two; readers are asked not to spoil others' fun by posting your answer.

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.

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.

Last Friday I presented three fairly difficult positions for your solving pleasure. This was the first position:



It's White to move, and the task was to determine what trap Black has in store for White if he plays 19.Qe1, and to assess it. In the comments to that post, one reader managed to come pretty close to solving it, but couldn't quite get it. If you're in that boat too, and want to see how White finished the job in the game Keres-Mikenas, Soviet Team Championship (Riga) 1968, scratching your mental itch is just a click away.

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!

Remember this banal-looking position from a couple of days ago?



White has more space on the queenside (but what can he do with it?), while Black enjoys a touch more breathing room on the kingside. But overall, nothing seems to be happening and we probably wouldn't think much of it if the players quickly agreed to a draw.

In fact, this position, from the game Miles-Agdestein, Oslo 1984, is rather more interesting than a first superficial glance might suggest. So have another look, and when you're ready to see the remarkable game continuation, click here. You'll want to see this!

Here's an innocuous-looking position from the game Miles-Agdestein, Oslo 1984:



It's White to move; what should he do? The answer will be supplied in a couple of days. (Please don't comment the answer.)

HT: IM Tibor Karolyi, who is writing a book on Tony Miles.

A few days ago I offered this position; it's Black to move and win - or rather, to win as quickly as possible (there are several wins, but the intended and best solution is a mate in nine):



The puzzle, inverted and with colors reversed, was apparently composed by one Conrad Bayer in the 19th century, has a delightful solution, and I hope you found it. (It's not too late to try!) If not, you can find the answer right here.

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.

The following position didn't arise during the tournament, but was shown to me by an old friend, Steve Barbre, which was shown to him in turn by a local player named Virgil (don't know his last name), who got it from someone else when he served in the armed forces. If anyone knows the position's provenance, please let us know in the combox; meanwhile, here it is:



It's Black to move and win. More precisely, since Black has various mundane winning procedures, the task is to give mate as fast as possible - in nine moves against best defense, as it turns out. It's possible to solve it without being some sort of master solver - I did - and it's worth making the effort, as the solution is quite nice.

The solution will be given in a couple of days; meanwhile, please don't spoil others' fun by commenting the right answer.

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!)