The Chess Mind

Simple, but very nice. Here, once again, is the position:


Gurgenidze 1985

The task, as mentioned yesterday, is for White to move and draw. When you're ready to see the solution, satisfaction is just a click away.

It's not too difficult, but it is attractive:


D. Gurgenidze 1985

White to move and draw. (The solution will be given in a day or two; please don't comment the answer.)

The parade of opposite-colored bishop endings crossing my path seems unending. While solving some puzzles a couple of days ago, I came across this position, from the game Alterman-Karpov, Tyniste 1995:



White has just played 50.Kd3, and now it's Black to move and win. After a little thought, I found Karpov's solution, but sadly persuaded myself that things were not completely clear there. While I'm disappointed by the misassessment (though I wouldn't go so far as to say that I believed the position was drawn, and would probably have returned to Karpov's approach if I couldn't find anything else), rejecting his line provided the chance to produce something new and creative, and I'm happy with the alternative I discovered. (One which Fritz 11, plugging away to depth 32, still hasn't worked out.) Perhaps a decent study composer can make something out of my idea (or more likely, it has already been done).

Try to solve it, and when you're ready, have a look at the game continuation and my alternative winning line. And who knows - perhaps you can find a third path to victory!

On Tuesday I offered these positions to test your ability to calculate and/or analyze:


Najer-Ftacnik, Bundesliga 2007/8


Botvinnik-Stoltz, Leningrad-Stockholm 1926

The first problem is a straightforward White-to-move-and-win position, while the second requires evaluating the following line, given by both Mikhail Botvinnik and Andy Soltis: 12.Bb1 f5 13.Nxe4 fxe4 14.Rxc7 exf3 15.Rxb7 Qg5 16.g3 Qg4 17.Kh1 Rf6 18.Rg1 Rh6 19.Qf1 Qh5 20.h4 Qxh4 and Black wins (12.Nxe4 was the move played in the game). It's always better if you can solve it yourself, but if you can't, won't, or have but want to confirm your answer, enlightenment is just a click away.

Let's start with a nice combination, from the game Najer-Ftacnik, Bundesliga 2007/8:



It's White to move and win. (HT: Chess Today)

And now for something incompletely different. It's still a tactical problem of sorts, but this time instead of solving the position from scratch, your task is to evaluate a piece of analysis approved by Botvinnik and Soltis. Here's the position:



It's White to move, and in the game White played 12.Nxe4, not fearing the pawn fork. Had he been concerned and chosen 12.Bb1, the claim is that Black would be in good shape - winning, actually - after 12...f5 13.Nxe4 fxe4 14.Rxc7 exf3 15.Rxb7 Qg5 16.g3 Qg4 17.Kh1 Rf6 18.Rg1 Rh6 19.Qf1 Qh5 20.h4 Qxh4. Can we take this analysis to the bank, or would we be toting around counterfeit goods?

Answers to both puzzles in a couple of days (meanwhile, please be kind to fellow solvers and avoid giving the solution in the comments).

A few days ago I presented this position, from a game played in a local club championship:



It's Black to make his 12th move, and although it wasn't played in the game (I don't remember the actual move), 12...f4 leads to fascinating variations. In order not to "infect" my readers with my own ideas, I presented without offering any of my analytical impressions; now, three days along, some of my thinking can be found here. (The lines haven't been computer-checked, and represent something more like a first, very rough draft.) You're now welcome to pick them apart and comment your own lines; but I do request that those of you who are investigating with your chess engines not comment at this stage. Thanks!

At the local club tonight, one of the players handed me the scoresheet from a game he played on Tuesday. I didn't look too much at the game as a whole, but one position grabbed my attention in a sustained way, and I spent 20-30 minutes analyzing it. This was the position in the game after White's 12th move:



I don't recall what Black actually did, but it wasn't 12...f4. I haven't checked any of my analysis with the computer - and I'm not going to, either, until I've really spent a lot of time on it - and I in turn won't "contaminate" your thinking by presenting it. So chew on the position for a while (but no analytical comments yet, please), and in a few days we'll discuss it.