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| Dec-20-22 | | technical draw: <Fusilli> If you join GameKnot look me up I play under the name <goodchessactor>. My rating usually hovers around 1800 but when I start losing I lose a lot in a row. Right now my rating is 1763. |
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Dec-20-22
 | | Check It Out: I looked at Nxe7, Bf6 but wasn't sure about it. I was too focused on Rxd6, again wasn't sure where that led. |
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Dec-23-22
 | | Fusilli: Be an endgame defense hero!
Black to play and save this:
click for larger view55...?
Level: Difficult. So, here's a little help: Black played 55...Rb1, which loses. I posted this and four more puzzles from this endgame in the game's page: J Marsalek vs K Opocensky, 1962 |
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| Dec-23-22 | | Messiah: I did not analyze deeply, but 55...Bd6 seems to be promising. |
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Dec-23-22
| | Fusilli: <Messiah> It fails to Rf7+ and Bxd6. But you are on the right track. How can you make the same idea work? |
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Dec-24-22
| | Fusilli: Follow up on the puzzle. It's difficult and fun! So, if you feel like going a little chess mad on Christmas Eve, here we go: Follow up on the puzzle. Black to play, from J Marsalek vs K Opocensky, 1962
click for larger viewThe only move that holds the draw is 55...Rb6!
For example:
A) 56. Kf5 Rf6+! The computer says 56...a2 draws too, but who wouldn't prefer this fancy move?
click for larger view
Then 57.Bxf6 Bxf6 and now white has to choose between 58.Kxf6 a2 and perpetual check with Rf7 and Rg7, or 58.Rxb7 a2, give the rook up for the a-pawn and draw. Notice white's bad luck that taking the bishop puts the king on the long diagonal for a check when black promotes. B) 56.Rf7+ Ke8 57.Kf5, now 57...Rf6+ loses:
click for larger view58.Bxf6 Bxf6 59.Rxf6 a2 60.g7 and white will mate. The key is that now white's king is not on the long diagonal. Instead, the more natural 57...a2 draws (as it does against 56.Kf5).
click for larger view
In fact, white is the one who struggles now. For example, the natural 58. Rh7 loses to 58...Bf6!! 
click for larger viewAnd white has nothing better than giving up the bishop to capture the a-pawn. So, white is in the unenviable situation of having to play 58.Rg7 as the only move that keeps the draw.
click for larger viewB1) Now, 58...Bf6 meets 59.Rg8+ Ke7 60.g7 Bxe5 61.Re8+ Kxe8 62.g8=Q+
click for larger view
And this, the computer says, is a draw.
B2) Or, if black calculates the promotion and it looks scary (it does, doesn't it?), there is 58...Rf6+ (remember Rf6+?) 
click for larger view59.Ke4 Rf8, draw again.
B3) Finally, there is the quicker path to draw so that everybody can avoid a heart attack, with 58...Kf8 59.Rf7+ Ke8 60.Rg7. Notice that against 59.Rh7
click for larger view
Black again has 59...Rf6+ where the best white can do is retreat with 60.Ke4, lose the g-pawn and suffer, but it's still a draw. So, better go for move repetition. |
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Dec-25-22
 | | chancho: Feliz Navida a ti y los tuyos.
Muchas bendiciones.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 |
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Dec-25-22
| | Check It Out: Merry Christmas, Fusilli! |
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Dec-25-22
| | Fusilli: Same to you <Check it Out>! |
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Dec-25-22
 | | FSR: Merry Christmas, Fusilli! |
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Dec-26-22
 | | Penguincw: Hi there, dropping by to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! |
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| Dec-28-22 | | technical draw: Happy New Year <Fusilli>. Thanks for your post on my forum. I would like to reply to it but I can't think of the appropriate words to do it justice. Maybe next year. |
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Dec-28-22
| | Fusilli: <TD> Oh, no worries, don't feel obligated! I was just sharing from what (I think) I learned lately. Cheers! |
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Dec-31-22
| | Fusilli: Publications come up with lists of "those we lost this year" too early. Pelé and Pope Benedict now rendered those lists grossly incomplete. Lat year, Desmond Tutu, Harry Reid, John Madden, E.O. Wilson, and Betty White all died in the last six days of the year. So, today is December 31 and our likelihood of missing someone is very low. So... which GMs died in 2022? In alphabetical order: Yuri Averbakh (100)
Miso Cebalo (77)
Ivan Farago (76)
Borislav Ivkov (88)
Nikolai Krogius (91)
Konstantin Landa (50)
Gilles Miralles (55)
Igor Naumkin (56)
Alex Sherzer (51)
Mark Tseitlin (78) Mean life span of these players = 72.2 years
Wide range though (max-min = 50! No GM died between ages 57 and 75 in 2022), and standard deviation = 17.17 Four GMs died in their 50s in 2022, and at the higher end we lost three of the oldest ones, including the oldest one. The five oldest living GMs are now: Aleksandar Matanovic (92)
Juraj Nikolac (90)
Yair Kraidman (90)
Nikola Padevsky (89)
Klaus Darga (88) |
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| Jan-16-23 | | Teyss: Hi <Fusilli> With a bit of delay, happy new year.
Teyss chessforum (kibitz #30) |
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Jan-25-23
| | Fusilli: Random comment: I love junco birds (aka snowbirds). I love it when they appear in little flocks in my backyard in winter. I find the white & grey & black contrasts in the color of their feathers beautiful. In other bird news, I set up a second blue bird house in my backyard. The first one has been there for a year but no one took me up on it last season. I saw a couple of blue birds exploring one of them a few weeks ago. I think a chickadee uses it for shelter occasionally. I am hoping to get blue bird tenants this spring. They are valuable real estate jewels! Comfy, protected, and with access to my ecologically diverse backyard. |
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Jan-28-23
| | Fusilli: 5-min blitz on chess.com
I am black. White just played 26.b4
click for larger viewBlack to play. Any takers?
Can you fill in the blanks?
26. white played b4, black plays [fill in]
27. white plays [fill in], black plays [fill in] 28. white plays Rg1, black plays [fill in]
29. white plays [fill in], black plays [fill in] and black is clearly winning |
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Jan-28-23
| | chancho: <Fusilli> I looked at 26...Rxc3 27.Qxc3 Rd2 28.g3 Qh3. 26...Rxc3 27.Qxc3 Rd2 28.Rg1 Qxf4
What's the 29th move for White? |
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Jan-28-23
 | | OhioChessFan: I can't pretend I'd have done it in a 5 minutes game, but here it is. 26...Rxc3 is clearly best.
27. Qxc3 only other maybe move Qe4 met by Re4.
27...Rd2 not e2 as I considered, 28. Rf3 and White is fine.
28. Rg1 Bd4 and all of a sudden White's Queen is in trouble.
29. Qb3 Qxf4 clearly winning.
click for larger view |
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Jan-28-23
| | Fusilli: <chancho> <OCF> Yes to both of you. In the game, white played 28.Rg1, and yes, Qxf4 and black is winning. (He then played the desperate 29.Rd1 and after e2 let his remaining minute or so run out. I had the even better 29...Bxe5.) <I can't pretend I'd have done it in a 5 minutes game, but here it is.> My memory now has been erased, but I believe I saw until Rd2, saw that g3 allowed for Qh3 and there is no defense, and if Rg1 I just assumed I would have something good, since white was all tied up. Turns out that Qxf4 is the only good move, says the computer, and clearly winning, so I had my share of luck. I often make this kind of assumption in blitz, going with Fischer's dictum that good tactics come from a superior position. It doesn't always work! In this case, I seem to have no choice but sacking the exchange anyway, but I knew that when I played Rd3 in the previous move |
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Jan-28-23
| | Fusilli: <OCF ... only other maybe move Qe4 met by Re4.> P.S. I didn't even see the Qe4 possibility! |
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Feb-08-23
| | Fusilli: 5-min blitz on chess.com. I am white.
In this position:
click for larger view24.f4 is very much needed and white keeps a large advantage. But I feared the bishop on c8 coming out swinging, so I played 24.Rxb8, which kills a piece and pins the bishop. 
click for larger viewThe problem is... well... sometimes you just get mated! Do you see it? |
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Feb-08-23
| | chancho: A) 1...Qg5+ 2.Qg4 Qxg4+ 3.Kh1 Rxh2#
B) 1...Qg5+ 2.Bg2 Bxh2+ 3.Kh1 Bf4+
(or 3...Be5+) 4.Kg1 Rh1+ 5. Kxh1 Qh4+ 6.Bh3 Qxh3+ 7.Kg1 Qh2# |
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Feb-08-23
| | Fusilli: <chancho> Indeed! In your first line, I could still play Bg2 after losing the queen, right? I let him mate me but did not give up queen or bishop. I thought my opponent deserved the execution, but my poor pieces did not need to be immolated for nothing :) |
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Feb-09-23
| | OhioChessFan: <The problem is... well... sometimes you just get mated! Do you see it?> I think there's a tendency to forget the inherent power of a pinned piece. Especially in blitz. If I may read your mind a little, "Huh, Rb8 and I don't have to worry abut the LSB going anywhere." But of course, that diagonal it sits on is crucial as it defends h3, pinned or not. I think most people have had similar conversations with beginners who have a hard time understanding how a pinned piece can deliver mate via discovered check. I admit there's something a bit unfair about a piece "attacking" my King even though it can't consummate the matter. |
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