The WCCT 10 has been announced in memorial of the late Uri Avner. The announcement is available on the website of the WFCC:
http://www.wfcc.ch/10th-wcct-announcement/
http://www.wfcc.ch/competitions/composing/10-wcct/
Yours Truly hopes to be able to participate again. An article on section D will be written for eg with several more studies.
The themes unfortunately can't be copied easily without breaking their markup, resulting in ugly empty lines and other issues. For the full announcement, including regulations and examples, please visit the website given above and download/open the PDF document.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
An incredible move
We would like to draw attention to the game of Denis Khismatullin vs. Pavel Eljanov, played on 6 March 2015 in the European Individual Championship in Israel. After 43 moves, the following position was reached:
It did not matter that day. Khismatullin found an impossible way to win.
44.Kg1!!
Wait, what? The rook hangs with check, Black has an incredible passed pawn, and he still is lost? Indeed. The real depth of the trouble can be seen by the computer giving 44.-Rd5(!!) and 44.-Q:c6 as the best suggestions, both of which leave White with a big advantage but Black could fight for a draw. It really is difficult to give a question mark to the next move, although it objectively deserves one.
44.-Q:d1+?
This loses soon, but it is difficult to see why. Most likely Black assumed Khismatullin was going for a draw in style.
45.Kh2 R:c6 46.Qe7+ Kh6 47.Qf8+ Kg5
With a draw, after all, Eljanov might have thought.
48.Q:f7!!
As a postscriptum it should be added that both did not take a top rank. The tournament was won by Jewgeni Najer, in front of David Navara and Mateusz Bartel. If there was a beauty prize, however, this 44.Kg1 would have deserved it.
Thanks to fellow historian Wolfgang Pieper (Osnabrück) for telling me about the game!
White to move
There are five possible moves for White: 44.Ra1, 44.Re1, 44.f4+, 44.h4+ and 44.Qe7+. Let us analyze them.
- 44.Ra1 Rf6 45.f4+ Kh4 46.Qh6+ Kg3 47.Qg5+ Kh2 48.Q:f6 Qe2 mate (or 48.Qg4 h5 49.Qf3 Q:c6 or even stronger 49.-h4! and Black wins).
- 44.Re1 Rf6 45.f4+ Kh4 46.Qh6+ Kg3 47.Qg5+ Kh2 48.c7 Rc6! and Black wins, or 48.Q:f7 Q:g2 mate.
- 44.f4+ Kh4 45.Q:d6 Q:d1+ 46.Kf2 Qe2+ 47.Kg1 Q:e3+ 48.Kh2 Qg3+ 49.Kg1 Qe1+ 50.Kh2 leads to perpetual check.
- 44.h4+ Kh5 45.g4+ K:g4 leaves White in a difficult situation, where 46.Q:f7!! Q:d1+ 47.Kg2 leads to a draw, according to the computer.
- 44.Qe7+ Rf6 45.f4+ Kh6 46.Qf8+ Kh5 is dangerous for White, although here also 47.Kg1!! draws, according to the computer.
It did not matter that day. Khismatullin found an impossible way to win.
44.Kg1!!
Wait, what? The rook hangs with check, Black has an incredible passed pawn, and he still is lost? Indeed. The real depth of the trouble can be seen by the computer giving 44.-Rd5(!!) and 44.-Q:c6 as the best suggestions, both of which leave White with a big advantage but Black could fight for a draw. It really is difficult to give a question mark to the next move, although it objectively deserves one.
44.-Q:d1+?
This loses soon, but it is difficult to see why. Most likely Black assumed Khismatullin was going for a draw in style.
45.Kh2 R:c6 46.Qe7+ Kh6 47.Qf8+ Kg5
With a draw, after all, Eljanov might have thought.
48.Q:f7!!
Black to move
Black has every advantage in this position - active pieces, a rook up, a dangerous passed pawn - except one: The king's security. And as unfair as it is, no matter how good you have played and how many advantages you collected: if you are checkmated, you lose.
And Black will be checkmated sooner or later. The game lasted for another nine moves, which will be given without further comment.
An incredible position we have in this diagram, great play by Khismatullin!
48.-Rf6 49.f4+ Kh6 50.Q:f6 Qe2 51.Qf8+ Kh5 52.Qg7! h6 53.Qe5+ Kh4 54.Qf6+ Kh5 55.f5! g:f5 56.Q:f5+ Kh4 57.Qg6 and Black gave up.
As a postscriptum it should be added that both did not take a top rank. The tournament was won by Jewgeni Najer, in front of David Navara and Mateusz Bartel. If there was a beauty prize, however, this 44.Kg1 would have deserved it.
Thanks to fellow historian Wolfgang Pieper (Osnabrück) for telling me about the game!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Warning against Europa Rochade
We must warn against the Europa Rochade, as it violates the codex of chess compositions, article 21 on pages 59 and 65 of the March 2015 issue by not naming the sources of the problems and studies presented.
UPDATE, 1 May 2015: The Europa Rochade now shows author's names everywhere, so that is enough of a win for us.
UPDATE, 1 May 2015: The Europa Rochade now shows author's names everywhere, so that is enough of a win for us.
Friday, February 20, 2015
An idea for the first 100 Mars colonists
Since Mars is a different world, you can have your own world chess champions. Do it! :-)
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Study of the Year 2013
An expert gremium has selected the "Study of the Year 2013", which is not the best study of the year but the best one to promote chess composition to a general public. Last night Dr. Harold van der Heijden (Netherlands) has sent the e-mail (the small error in the linking was there in the original mail but the link itself works):
For the convenience of the reader, the study is reproduced here.
Dear all,The Study of the Year 2013 has been selected!The marvellous study of Pavel Arestov can be downloaded here:Every year we select a Study of the Year to popularize endgame studies among the general chess public. Therefore I ask you to publish it in your magazine or on your website. Please also refer to: www.arves.org/English/index.htmFurther details (report, all studies submitted, and the scores of the judges) can be found here:Best wishes,Harold van der HeijdenSpokesman of the endgame study subcommittee of the WFCC
For the convenience of the reader, the study is reproduced here.
Pavel Arestov
Jenever tourney 2013, prize
White to move and draw
1.d7 Ke5! 2.Sd3+! Ke4! 3.Sf2+!! B:f2 4.d8Q Sd4+
5.Kc5!!, and:
5.-Se6+ 6.Kd6 S:d8 stalemate (left diagram)
5.-Rh5+! 6.Kb6!!/i Se6+ 7.Ka6 S:d8 stalemate (right diagram)
i - 6.Kc4? Rc5+! 7.K:c5 reaches the position after the fifth move, but without the Rh7. Now 7.-Se6+ 8.Kd6 S:d8 wins since the king can enter the seventh rank. This is known among experts as the "WCCT 7 theme" since it was required for White in that tourney that ran from 2001 to 2004.
Left: Stalemate after 5.-Se6+
Right: Stalemate after 5.-Rh5+
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Odds and Ends
When I grew up, success used to be something meaningful, something like a big medical discovery, a cure for pox, a political breakthrough, signing the START papers, a big scientific thing, the first man on the moon.
Nowadays it is having nuclear war averted for one more day...
The explosion at Donetsk on 8 February 2015 should be a wake-up call. How easy would it have been to mistake it for a nuclear explosion, just as some onlookers did!
I have played through many nuclear retaliation scenarios in my head, and all except one resulted in a nuclear holocaust. Usually Russia would score a short term victory thanks to the superior MARV technology where the MIRV of the western allies such as the United States would have trouble penetrating. In the end, however it would come down to the post-war effects which would be disastrous. If humanity was to survive, then we would still have a large scale catastrophe similar to an extinction event.
The one scenario that DID end well included a single nuclear missile shot by the western allies onto unoccupied Russian territory that would be let through, explodes with minor casualties, as a warning. It would include a high risk by Russia - after all, who knows that the missile does not change its course in the end - and a highly increased threat of a nuclear holocaust for the next between 1 to 2 and 5 to 20 years, equaling a Doomsday Clock set to between 0.30 and 1.30 minutes.
Humanity is at a turning point. Either it survives the nuclear age united, which would mean that finally people understand there is a lot more to lose than to gain, or it falls divided. There might be an alternative, but I fail to see it. Maybe humanity can survive divided, but at some point the climate change, the outer threats by asteroids, will not leave any other choice than to unite. The threat comes from humanity itself, but also from other places, those beyond control, those where a divided humanity no matter with what good intentions might not be enough to survive... or to avert its extinction for one more day.
Nowadays it is having nuclear war averted for one more day...
The explosion at Donetsk on 8 February 2015 should be a wake-up call. How easy would it have been to mistake it for a nuclear explosion, just as some onlookers did!
I have played through many nuclear retaliation scenarios in my head, and all except one resulted in a nuclear holocaust. Usually Russia would score a short term victory thanks to the superior MARV technology where the MIRV of the western allies such as the United States would have trouble penetrating. In the end, however it would come down to the post-war effects which would be disastrous. If humanity was to survive, then we would still have a large scale catastrophe similar to an extinction event.
The one scenario that DID end well included a single nuclear missile shot by the western allies onto unoccupied Russian territory that would be let through, explodes with minor casualties, as a warning. It would include a high risk by Russia - after all, who knows that the missile does not change its course in the end - and a highly increased threat of a nuclear holocaust for the next between 1 to 2 and 5 to 20 years, equaling a Doomsday Clock set to between 0.30 and 1.30 minutes.
Humanity is at a turning point. Either it survives the nuclear age united, which would mean that finally people understand there is a lot more to lose than to gain, or it falls divided. There might be an alternative, but I fail to see it. Maybe humanity can survive divided, but at some point the climate change, the outer threats by asteroids, will not leave any other choice than to unite. The threat comes from humanity itself, but also from other places, those beyond control, those where a divided humanity no matter with what good intentions might not be enough to survive... or to avert its extinction for one more day.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Afek 64 Jubilee Tourney (31.1.2016)
The Israeli chess composition society (ICCS) announces an endgame study tourney to celebrate the 64th birthday, on 16 April 2016, of the composer and promoter of the art of the endgame study Yochanan Afek.
Theme: free
Maximum 2 entries per composer; Joint compositions are allowed.
Closing date: 31/1/2016
The award will be published in "Variantim" in mid-2016.
Total prize fund: 1400 US$. 5 money prizes: 400$, 300, 250, 200, 100 and additional 150$ value in books prizes.
Judge: Yochanan Afek.
Tourney director: Amatzia Avni
Send your original studies (diagram, detailed solutions and postal address) by e-mail (avniam@zahav.net.il) or by post (Amatzia Avni, 9 Oranim, Givaat-Shmuel 54052, Israel). Studies sent by e-mail should be in Word or PDF; an additional attached pgn file would be appreciated.
Please reprint!
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