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Jan-11-07
 | | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by H. Mattison, 1918. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #90.)
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Wherein Black just has too much to do.
<1.Rd7 Rd2 2.b7 Ne4+ 3.Kf3 Ba7 4.b8Q+ Bxb8 5.Rb7 Ng5+ 6.Kg4 Rg2+ 7.Kf5>
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Black consults his check list. "Knight safe? Check.
"Rook safe? Check.
"Bishop safe? Let's take care of it right now."
<7...Bd6 8.Rg7+!>
And draws, since Black must let the knight go to avoid stalemate. |
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Jan-12-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by H. Mattison, 1924. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #91.)
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The knight's trapped, and Black's bishop is the right color for his a-pawn. How can White get out of this? <1.Kd5 Kd7 2.a4>
Planning 3.a5 followed by 4.Nb6, when 4...axb6 lets White chop off Black's last pawn. <2...a5 3.Kc4 Kc6 4.Nc7!>
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In desperation, the knight makes a crazed break for it. <4...Kxc7>
Black prepares to make some snide comments about a failure to communicate being present, but stops short after: <5.Kb5 Bb6 6.Ka6!>
And Black must abandon the pawn or play 6...Kc6, stalemating White. |
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Jan-13-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
(Composed by A. A. Troitzky, 1930. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #92.)
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After which Black doesn't care if he ever sees another pin as long as he lives. <1.Qf6+ Kh5 2.Qf5+ Kh6 3.Be3+ Kg7 4.Qg5+ Kf8 5.Bc5+ Bd6 6.Qe5!>
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And the first pin wins a piece.
<6...Kg8 7.Bxd6 Qd8> He must stop 8.Qg5+.
<8.Qg3+ Kh8 9.Be5+ f6 10.Qg5!>
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And the second pin wraps things up. |
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Jan-14-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by E. N. Somov-Nasimovitsch, 1929. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #93.)
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I can never remember--is it Harrwitz bishops or Horwitz bishops? No matter; Black's pair in this position are not a particularly good example, and have to work like crazy to stop White's passed pawn. They accomplish that mission, but White still has a nifty drawing shot in the locker. <1.g6 d4 2.Kc4 Bxf3> Not futile; Black is preparing the ...c6 and ...Bd5+ maneuver. White goes along with the gag. <3.g7 c6 4.g8Q Bd5+ 5.Qxd5 cxd5+>
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<6.Kxd4!>
And Black has a dilemma. White threatens to eliminate the last two Black pawns, and trying to protect the e-pawn with 6...Bb8 7.Kxd5 Bc7 8.Ke6 Bd8 9.Kd7 is obvously futile. That leaves: <6..e6>
And suddenly, out of nowhere, it's stalemate! |
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Jan-15-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
(Composed by V. A. Korolikov, 1930. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #94.)
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Look into my eyes. You are getting sleepy, sleepy, sleepy... <1.h8Q+ Qxh8 2.Be5 Qxe5>
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Thou shalt march straight down the f-file into checkmate. Turn ye not to the the left nor to the right, neither shalt thou pass GO and collect $200. <3.Rg8+ Kxf7 4.Bc4+ Kf6 5.Rg6+ Kxf5 6.Bd3+ Kf4 7.Rg4+ Kxf3 8.Be2#> |
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Jan-15-07
| | Phony Benoni: You may be familiar with the game Marshall vs H Rogosin, 1940. While most famous for Marshall beginning the game with 14 straight pawn moves, Black's ten consecutive knight moves in the opening are also worthy of note. For comparison try this one which I've just submitted to the database: [Event "Lloyds Bank Masters"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round ""]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Hodgson, Julian Michael"]
[Black "Gluckman, D"]
[ECO ""]
[WhiteElo ""]
[BlackElo ""]
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e4 Be7 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Bxe7 Nxc3 6.Bxd8 Nxd1 7.Bxc7 Nxb2 8.Bd6 Na4 9.c4 Nc6 10.Nf3 Ne7 11.Bd3 Nb2 12.Be2 Nf5 13.Ba3 Na4 14.Kd2 Nb6 15.Rab1 f6 16.g4 Ne7 17.Bd6 Nc6 18.Rb5 Nd8 19.Ra5 h5 20.Rg1 Nc6 21.Ra3 hxg4 22.Rxg4 Kf7 23.Bc7
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23...Nxc4+
The only way to save the knight would be the dismal 23...Rb8. And by now Black probably figured the knights weren't worth saving anyways. OK, let's review. In the first 23 moves, Black has made 4 pawn moves, 1 king move, 1 bishop move--and 17 moves with his knights. The finish is about what you would expect. 24.Bxc4 d5 25.Bb3 b5 26.Rg1 a5 27.Bc2 g5 28.Bd6 Bd7 29.h4 b4
30.Re3 a4 31.hxg5 Na5 32.Bd3 b3 33.gxf6 1-0
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Jan-16-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by K. A. L. Kubbel, 1926. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #95.)
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And did he ever return?
No, he never returned!
And his fate is still unlearned.
He will ride forever on the Bishop Shuttle
He's the Man Who Never Returned.
<1.e7 Bb8 2.e5 Bxe5 3.Bd7 Bd6+ 4.Ka4 Bxe7 5.Be6+ Kh8>
click for larger view<6.Bd5!>
It's stalemate if the bishop is taken; otherwise, the bishop can only move along the f1-h3 diagonal and White just keeps opposing it until either the song ends or triple repetition sets in. |
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| Jan-16-07 | | YouRang: Hi <Phony Benoni>. I've been enjoying the problems you've been presenting. :-) On your Jan 6 "white to move and win" problem, after 5. a8=Q, you arrive here:
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Your line continues with 5...d1=Q, but black appears to be better off with 5...Kg3! According to the tablebase, white can still win, but it's trickier. First, a nifty maneuver to get the queen to d1:
<6. Qh1 Kf4 7. Qd5 Kg3 8. Qh5 Kf2 9. Qd1!>
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Now black is short on moves, and the white king can move in...
<9...b5 10. Kf5 b4 11. Ke4 Bh6 12. Ke3>
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The white king now ready to take Pd2 if bishop's protection can be removed. <12...Kg3 13. Qg1+ Kf3> (13...Kf4 blocks the bishop, allowing 14. Kxd2) <14. Qf1 Kg4 15. Ke4!> Mate threats appearing... <15...Kg5 16. Qf5+ Kh4 17. Qf2+ Kh3> Avoiding 17...Kg5 18. Qxd2 <18. Kf5!> Zugzwang! If 18...Be3, then 19. Kg4 with Qg3+, Kh3 and mate to follow. If 18...Kg1, then 19. Qe2 with Ke4, Kf3 and mate to follow. Other moves surrender material and white will wrap things up shortly. (Sorry for the lengthy post, you can remove it if you like) |
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Jan-17-07
| | Phony Benoni: <YouRang> Not a problem! It's gratifying to know that people are watching and interested enough to pursue lines like this. Thanks for the analysis. |
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Jan-17-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
(Composed by A. K. Sarytschev, 1935. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #96.)
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Sometimes, you just can't win--or even draw.
<1.a6 Bd4>
There's no other way to stop the pawn.
<2.Kxd4 Nb4 3.a7 Nc6+ 4.Kc5 Nxa7> Black has managed to elimnate the pawn, but his problems are just beginning. <5.Kb6 Nc8+ 6.Kc7>
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Ouch. After 6...Na7 7.Nd6+ and 8.Be3, the knight goes bye-bye. But that is wstill better than the alternative 6...Ne7 7.Nd6# |
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Jan-18-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
(Composed by E. I. Umnov, 1928. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #97.)
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An example of the "Novotny" theme, which is Russian for "Hey, get out of my way!" <1.b7 Bh2 2.c4+ Ka6 3.e7 Re3 4.Be5!>
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Overloading the e5 square, as either capture of the bishop allows a pawn to promote. But Black has a little trick up his sleeve. <4...Rxe5!>
Now if 5.b8Q Rxe7 6.Qxh2 (the only move which both saves the queen and stops 6...Ra7#) 6...Re8+ 7.Qb8 Rd8! 8.Qxd8 and Black is stalemated. Very nice, but White has sleeves as well. <5.b8N+!>
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And either king move allows a knight fork, after which the e-pawn decides. |
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Jan-19-07
| | Phony Benoni: Before we get to the next one from Chessboard Magic, I want to make sure you know this famous Reti study. It's White to play and draw.
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This was originally published in the 1920s and has been baffling new solvers ever since. It seems impossible that White can draw; he can't catch Black's pawn, and his own will easily be snatched up by Black's king if need be. The idea consists in the power of the double attack. Ironically, while a piece with two defensive functions is often overloaded and cannot fulfill both, a piece performing two attacking functions is often twice as strong! White has two threats: catching up to the pawn, and bringing his king to the queenside to support his pawn. Black can parry the former by moving his pawn, and the latter by moving his king--but he can't parry both threats with a single move. Hence, as long as White keeps making moves that pursue both threats, Black will in effect lose a move each time. <1.Kg7!>
Both coming up the board toward the pawn, and across the board toward the queenside. <1...Kb6 2.Kf6!>
Again pursuing both threats. Now with 3.Kg5 annexing the pawn looming, Black has to move it. <2...h4 3.Ke5!>
And Black is stymied. White threatens both 4.Kd6 followed by promoting his pawn, and 4.Kf4 catching up to the pawn. Black cannot parry both threats! It's the same if Black tries pushing the pawn first: <1.Kg7 h4 2.Kf6 h3 3.Ke6!>, followed by 4.Kd7 supporting the pawn. A simple position, but the idea is so striking that it has insipired dozens of imitations and elaborations. |
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Jan-19-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by T. B. Gorgiev, 1929. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #98.)
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If you've read the previous post, you'll quickly grasp the idea here. Blindly rushing the king over will not work, for instance, 1.Kb4 f5 2.Kc4 f4 3.Kxd3 f3! and Black queens a pawn. Hence, White needs to employ Reti's double attack maneuver. <1.Kb5 f5 2.Kc6 Kxe7> He must take, as otherwise White plays 3.Kd7. White has gained a tempo in his rush to the kingside, but his king turns out to be awkwardly placed. <3.Kd5 Kf6!>
Of course not 3...f4 4.Ke4. Now White has to lose a move. <4.Kd4 f4>
Stopping 5.Ke3. Now 5.Kxd3 f3 wins for Black, but White has a resource.
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<5.Ke4! Kg5 6.Kf3! Kf5> Stalemate! |
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Jan-20-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
(Composed by H. Mattison, 1929. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #99.)
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Some endings achieve their effects through strange positions and weird combinations. This one is neat and squeaky clean. <1.b7 Rb5 2.Rd8 Bg2 3.b8Q Rxb8>
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So what? 4.Rxb8 Bxc6 is obviously a draw.
<4.c7! Rb2+ 5.Kc1 Rb6> Ready to answer 6.c8Q with 6...Rc6+.
<7.Rg8+! Kh6 8.Rxg2 Rc6+ 9.Rc2> And wins; a simply lovely ending. (By the way, I checked; the position after 9...Rxc7 10.Rxc7 is a win for White.) |
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Jan-21-07
| | Phony Benoni: BLACK TO PLAY; WHITE TO WIN
(Composed by A. S. Gurewitz, 1927. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #100.)
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If Black tries 1...Rb6, White answers with 2.Ne6 Raxa6 3.Bc6+ Ka7 4.Ra8# Or, after 1...Rb6 2.Ne6 Kb7 3.Nec5+ Kc8 4.Bc6#. Therefore, Black arranges to threaten capture of the a6-knight with check. <1...Rb2+ 2.Kxa3 Rb3+ 4.Kxa4 Rb6>
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White had to capture the pawns to keep the b-file rook under attack. Now, he can't afford any quiet moves, and starts checking madly in every direction at once. <4.Bc6+ Rxc6 5.Nd7+ Kb7 6.Rb8+ Kxa6 5.Rb6+ Rxb6 8.Nc5!>
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Jan-22-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
(Composed by S. A. Becgatevm 1937. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #101.)
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This one reminds me of a game of checkers where you give up a couple of men to deflect your opponent's pieces into position for a triple jump. <1.g7 Bd8 2.g4+ Kh6 3.c6! Bxc6>
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Now 4.g8Q is answered by 4...Bf6+, but one more deflection sets up the long jump. <4.Be7! Bxe7 5.g8N+ Kg6 6.Nxe7+> followed by 7.Nxc6 winnning. |
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| Jan-22-07 | | Resignation Trap: Although it's not mentioned in the tournament book or <Chess Review>, I believe that the Preliminary Section at Pittsburgh 1946 actually started out as several round-robin sections (as they had in earlier US Opens), and they were merged into one section after two rounds with the Swiss System pairings. Take, for example, JT Westbrock. JTB was paired with Herman Steiner in round one and lost. In round two, Westbrock faced Kupchik and again lost (Kupchik won round one easily). There are many other round two pairings which are inconsistent with the Swiss System as we know it. If you have the time, try reconstructing a crosstable of the preliminary section from the results in the book, and you will see what I mean. |
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Jan-22-07
| | Phony Benoni: That's an interesting theory. I was planning on reconstructing a crosstable anyway, so I'll take a look at it. But the introductory <Story of the Tournament> in the tournament book states definitely "The plan adopted was a 'Swiss System' of all players for eight preliminary rounds...." 1946 was during the infancy of the Swiss System in the U.S., and some variations might have been tried which are not standard today. The director was Hermann Helms, who may have had ideas of his own as well. In Jack O'Keefe's article on the 1950 US Open in <Michigan Chess>, he noted some controversial practices used by Helms. Or maybe they were using Gaba pairings. |
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Jan-23-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by A. A. Troitzky, 1930. Published in Chessboard Magic by Irving Chernev, #102.)
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This one might make a good video game. The rook dodges up and down and in and out and over and under and hither and yon, but the knight just keeps popping up around another corner. <1.Nh5+ Kh8 2.Nf6 Rf8 3.Nd7 Re8 4.Nf6 Re7 5.Nd5 Rd7>
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<6.Nb6 Rd6 7.Nc4 Rd5 8.Nb6 Rd6 9.Nc4 Rd7 10.Nb6 Rc7>
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<11.Nd5 Rc8 12.Nb6 Rb8 13.Nd7 Ra8 14.Nb6 Ra7 15.Nc8>
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There's more, but I think you get the idea.
Correction to #101, 1/22/2007: The composer was <S. A. Nechayev>. I'm a lousy typist when I get in a hurry. And yes, I know that "winning" is spelled with three "n's", not four. |
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Jan-24-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by A. S. Selesniev, 1930. Published in Chessboard Magic! by Irving Chernev, #103.)
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That was a ugly, cluttered position yesterday. Today's looks much more natural, with a simple idea: how to neutralize the e-pawn? <1.Kf7 e3 2.Nf6+ Kh8 3.Nd5 e2 4.Nf4 e1Q>
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Hmmm. that didn't seem to work. But hold on! After
<5.Nxg6+ Kh7 6.Nf8+> White draws by perpectual check! |
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| Jan-24-07 | | RonB52734: <Phony Benoni> Thanks for the clarifications in the Cafe about crosstable codes. |
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| Jan-24-07 | | Dr.Lecter: In your biography, your opponent didn't know what a smothered mate was? Or what was so funny about it. I was once got smothered mated in a blitz game and it was not funny. I probably could have avoided it if I wasn't in a time trouble against a guy rated 600 points higher than me, but nooooo, I had to play that person in a 2 minute game. How sad of me. |
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Jan-24-07
| | Phony Benoni: <Resignation Trap> I've put a copy of the crosstable for the preliminary Swiss of the 1946 US Open on the collection page at Game Collection: US Open 1946, Pittsburgh. I just wish I could figure out a way to format it without having to double space everything. I don't know if your theory about the first two rounds being in round robin sections holds up. For Instance, #1 Ulvestad played #58 Yeager, so they would be in the same section. Yeager also played #23 Shapiro, who would have to be in the section as well. Shapiro also played #30 Surgies, who played #57 Ertzman, who played #54 Grimm, who played #4 Katz, who played #55 Price, who played #13 R. Byrne, who played #29 Paal, who played #22 Santasiere, who played #33 Grossman, who played #5 D. Byrne ... well, you get the idea. And we haven't even considered the string beginning from Ulvestad's round two opponent, #24 Cross. Instead, my guess is that round 2 was not paired by score, but as top half vs. bottom half as in round 1. (Or, probably more exactly, seeded against unseeded.) Another weird thing is that all (or most) of the seeded players received Black in round 1, White in round 2. It's difficult to understand how else nine of the ten qualifiers for the Championship Final (and 19 of the top 23 finishers overall) followed that pattern. In the games from the tournament book, Black scores 13½/19 in round 1, White scores 14½/19 in round 2. That's not impossible, but it's highly unlikely if nodern Swiss System rules are followed. |
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Jan-24-07
| | Phony Benoni: <RonB52734> You're welcome. When I edited <Michigan Chess>, I had to decipher dozen of those dot matrix monstrosities every year. That sort of experience sticks with you. |
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Jan-24-07
| | Phony Benoni: <Dr.Lecter> As a rule, I make it a policy to never try and explain humor. In general, I've found that when someone doesn't find a joke funny, it's usually because they simply don't find the joke funny, not that they don't understand it. This makes trying to explain the joke both unnecessary and useless. But, just for the record, it was a regular tournament game with a slow time limit, and my opponent had never seen a smothered mate before. Actually, I think he was more surprised than angry. |
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