I think the only "insane" thing about this position is the effort that it took to get here.

The winning sequence from this point is fairly straight forward. We start with

124...Re3

The threat now is 125...Bh3+ 126 Kg1 Re8#. White has only one good way to stop this...

125 Rg8 Re5

Readying the rook for transfer to the h-file. Other than that, this move doesn't change the nature of the position, white must still maintain the pin of the bishop.

126 Rg7 Rh5

Now with the threat of 127 Rh1#. As this check cannot be blocked, the white king has to run for it.

127 Ke1 Rd5

Black could not make this move until the white king occupied e1, as white would then bring his own rook to the e-file and block the check. But that maneuver can no longer work, so white probably hangs it up here.

Time to check.

=====

Leko vs Ivanchuk, 2008 (124...?)

Black to play and win.

Material: R+B vs. R endgame. The endgame is usually a draw, if the defending R gets behind the attacking K to check. The White Kf1 has 1 legal move, g8, on the back rank, so Black has mating possibilities.

Candidates (124...): Rf2+, Ra2, Re3

[ 124...Rf2+ 125.Ke1 Kg2 126.Rg8, and Black has no threat]

[124...Ra2 125.Rd3+ Bf3 126.Ke1 Ra1+ 127.Kd2, and Black has no threat]

Black must create mate threats, while protecting his own Kg3.

124...Re3 (threatening 125...Bh3+ 126...Re1#)

125.Rg8 [Kg1 Re1#]

125...Rd3 ((threatening 126...Rd1#)

126.Re8 Rd1+ 127.Re1 Bh3+ 128.<Kg1> Rxe1#

I believe most R+B v R positions are theoretically won, but take up to 57 moves to prove it. However, since we are not all computers and cannot calculate 50 moves into the future, these endgames often turn out pretty wacky. Given that was an "insane" puzzle, and I have never gotten a Sunday one in my history of perusing chessgames, I wasn't very confidant, but since endgames are my strongest point and I know a fair bit about this one, I decided to give it a try. Onto the position.

124. ...Rd3

This lifts the black rook out of White's range and threatens 125. ...Bh3+ 126. Kg1 Re1# . White must play Rg8 (pinning the bishop). All other lines lose quickly, which I won't bother getting into. Black needs to find another way to threaten mate:

125. ...Re7

Here he threatens to move over to the h-file and deliver Rh1# . Kg1 still allows ...Re1#, so white must waste a move along the g-file (if the pin is broken, black still has the mate from ...Bh3+). There doesn't seem to be an important distinction between Rg5 and Rg6, though the Rg5 is not on the bishop's color, so this looks a little more appealing. The only legal move (besides sacking the rook pointlessly) to stave off the immediate mate is Kf1.

126. Kf1 Rh7 127. Kf1 Rd7

And now white must resign. ...Rd1 is mate whether or not the king moves over to g1. White lives the longest by 128. Rxg4+ Kxg4, but Leko didn't want, in addition to losing such a spectacular game, to insult Ivanchuk's intelligence by persisting without pieces against a rook.

If ever I get bitten by a radioactive spider, accidentally irradiated by gamma rays, caught in a solar storm, or whatever, I really hope to get some decent superpowers.

You know, it would be great to have super strength like Mr Incredible, but without the facial and body masonry of the Thing or the unfortunate skin-tone and wardrobe malfunctions of the Hulk. Spiderman and superman have cool powers. I could even go for the bionics of the six million dollar man or the fiery antics of the human torch.

But the superpower than you really don't want, the joker in the pack, the sporty spice of powers is ... invisibility. HG Wells' version of the invisible man was permanently invisible, which meant that he had to go around dressed like king Tut so that people could speak to him. And, okay, I'm sure my inner teenager could find some use for invisibility, but that would quickly get boring and then what do you do?

Admittedly, Jessica Alba was somewhat scrumptious in the Fantastic Four, and they did give her a forcefield as well as invisibility. But it couldn't hide the fact that invisibility is, let's face it, a purely defensive power. It's like a super-duper version of running away very effectively. Not cool. Wimpy. Beige.

Mind you, you have to admit that invisibility does come in handy from time to time, even if it is only to see Jessica Alba in her underwear. So I guess the best superpower to have would be a mix of defense and offense. Muscles and a shield, like Captain America.

Today's solution sees black mixing offense and defense in equal measure, while white can do nothing except defend. Black needs to nudge white into a position where his rook cannot act as bodyguard to the king.

124...Re3 Defends against annoying side-checks from the rook. Threatens Bh3+, Kg1, Re1#.

125.Rg8 Defends by pinning the black bishop against the king.

125...Re7 (Re6 and Re5 also work). Now that white cannot side-check, black adds the option of going to the h file to his repertoire of threats.

126. Rg5 Effectively, a pass move. White has to maintain his pin on the bishop and 126. Kg1? Re1# is not much of an option)

126...Rh7 A new threat - Rh1#. But this is also a defensive move. If black played 126...Rd7 here, white would defend with 127 Re5 to block 127...Rd1+ with 128. Re1.

127. Ke1 The only move to defend against Rh1 mate. But now white's king has been dragged to a square where his rook cannot defend him.

127...Rd7 The killer threat of Rd1# cannot be avoided. Now the Re5/Re1 defence doesn't work, because the white king is parked on e1.

So there you have it. If you want to be macho in your cape and colourful tights, get a purely offensive superpower like superstrength or sticky fingers. If you want to be ultra pragmatic, choose powers which mix defense and offense. And if you want to be a wuss, a big girl's blouse (which I was called recently), then choose invisibility. The only superpower which has a natural affinity with pastel shades.

126. Rg6 Rh7 127. Kg1 Re7 128. Rf6 ...

<124...e3>

This must be played on principle. Black prevents 125.d3+ and creates the threat 125...h3+ 126.g1 e1#. There is only one sensible way to stop this.

<125.g8 e(5,6,7)>

Ouch. Now black threatens mates in two both in the "d" and "h" files. White is paralyzed and can do nothing but keep his rook in the "g" file...

<126.g((6,7),(5,7),(5,6)) h(5,6,7)>

... so the mate in two threat becomes a mate in one threat.

<127.e1 d(5,6,7)>

Using the <other> mate in one threat! Now that the king is in e1, white cannot bring his rook to the defense of the king. The only way to stop the mate in one threat is...

<128.xg4+ xg4>

Germany played very well in both games. They are clearly in a different league to both England and Argentina and now my favourites to win the world cup.

It is interesting that the pre-tournament hype was about the so-called star players - Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, etc. But it seems that the bodysnatchers have got to them already and sent along mediocre dopplegangers instead. I wonder if the WAGs / FUFs have noticed the difference or they too have been taken over? Mark my words, there are alien pods in expensive houses all over the world...

The teams who are doing well are those with arguably less stellar players but who are playing as a team. There's a chess analogy in there somewhere that I might explore one of these days!

Yes, a few well-coordinated pieces can be worth more than a lot of material.

Morphy vs Duke Karl / Count Isouard, 1858

J S Neto vs Kasparov, 1981 (the sidelines 42.h1 xe3 43.fxe3 dxg2 44.xg2 g3 and 42.h1 xe3 43.e6 xf2 44.gxf3 f1+ 45.h2 exf3 46.xg5 f4#)

<Mind you, I do feel sorry for Ghana.>

"bodysnatcher and Doppelgänger", good one! :-)

You are right, the superstars are not performing well so far. There is only one remaining, and also he is not that good as in the past: Torre. Or are Robben and Schweinsteiger seen as a superstars already?

For me there are 4 favorites left, and the most impressive one is Netherlands (Germanyx is playing very attractive, Netherlands is playing very effectiv)

And it should not be neglected: Every game starts with 0:0; After the game is before the game; The next game is always the most diffcult one.

So, now I have to pay 5 Euros for all that phrases. :-)

On the other hand, it completely loses it's function when the opponent has those heat-seeing glasses or echo location or similar. And considering supervillains are by default extremely rich, you can take for granted they have such devices.

Teleportation would be good though - even offensively: grab a guy, teleport to open sea and bye-bye!

Now that's a tough one. He has been engineered to be the perfect soldier in every way and his shield is indestructible.

125...Re5 126. Rg7! Rh5 127. Kg1 Re5 128. Rf7 Re1+ 129. Rf1.

I think Black still wins, for instance by playing something like Re2, Bf3, Rg2+, Rh2 and Rh1+ either mating or winning the rook, but the point is the win is not as clean.