October 28, 2010

Thursday! Trivia Day, what else?!

This week's Trivia:
White to move
A. In which game did this position arise?
B. What was the result?
C. How should White proceed?


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And the answer from last week's question:
Name, from left to right, the five chess personalities you recognize in the following picture:
Bonus question: During which tournament was the picture taken?




Answer:
1. Botwinnik
2. Euwe
3. Smyslov
4. Keres
5. Reshevsky


Bonus question: Drawing of lots, World Championship, 1948. The tournament was played partly in The Hague (from March 2-25), and partly in Moscow (from April 11 to May 17).


As mentioned in his comment, Alan Benson successfully recognized them all and even more. You can try to answer his question by checking last week's Trivia comments.



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18 comments:

  1. I think I solved the position... So B and C.
    The move is C.Rd6 and probably after Rxd6 g8Q Kd7 Qg4+ Kd8 Qg8+ with the B.draw..
    A is unknown to me...

    ReplyDelete

  2. 1.Rd6 is the right move...but the game didn't end in a draw:)

    ReplyDelete

  4. Thought I'd chirp in and give 'Lucky Genius' & 'Christiansen' a heads-up and a small assist... :)

    When I first saw the initial position as given last week it was crystal clear to me that 1. Rd6! must be the "only move!" (Note: I've been solving esoteric Chess problems, combinations and endgame studies since I was a teenager some 50 years ago! ~lol~). The Black threats of 1... Rc1+ 2. Ke2 d1=Q+ must be dealt with immediately as there is no time to fool around! The main line appears to be as follows...

    1. Rd6! Rxd6

    Only move as the pawn on the square 'd2' must be protected as long as possible. If instead 1... cxd6 then 2. f7 and wins as Black cannot create new threats while White simply Queens and wins (the endgame is always winning).

    2. g8=Q+ Kd7

    Again the only move for if 2... Rd8 then simply 3. Qxd8+ Kxd8 4. f7 Rf5 5. f8=Q+ Rxf8 6. Bxf8 with a won endgame.

    3. Qxh7+

    Best as it's important to win this key pawn and create an additional passer (the 'h-pawn'). :)

    3... Kc8

    Note the key side variations here: 1) 3... Kd8 loses immediately to 4. Qe7+ Kc8 5. Qxd6 (also effective is 5. Qe8+ forcing 5... Rd8 then 6. Qxd8+) and wins as in above to the note after Black's 2nd move. Or, if 2) 3... Kc6 immediately this simply transposes into the main line after 4. Qe4+, etc. Note also that 3... Ke8 loses immediately to 4. Qe7# :P

    4. Qg8+ Kd7 5. Qf7+ Kc6

    This is the main line where we force the King out of the box.

    6. Qe8+ Kb6

    Instead if 6... Rd7 then simply once again 7. Qxd7+ Kxd7 8. f7 and wins. Finally, if 6... Kd5 then of course 7. Qe5+ Kc4 or Kc6 then 8. Qxd6 wins as in previous lines given.

    7. Qe3!

    This is the key winning line for White. Now Black faces a real problem with his Rook on c5 pinned (now Rc1+ is no longer possible).

    7... Kc6 8. Qxc5+ Kxc5 9. f7 Rxh6 10. f8=Q+ Rd6

    Here probably both 11. f5 or 11. h4 win with ease as Black cannot create a concrete threat nor stop the 'h-pawn' from Queening. :)

    Answer to A: Game? It's unknown to me from where this games comes from.
    Answer to B: Result? White wins! 1-0 :)
    Answer to C: How should White proceed? Analysis of key lines provided. ;)

    All the Best,
    Alan Benson
    Berkeley, CA // USA
    (aka: Malthrope, Mal & Al)

    PS: Keep up the good work Alina! :)) I'll drop bye again later and add some anecdotes of interest to the wonderful study where the Bishop dominates all the promoted Knights! ~lol~ It's a very famous endgame study and it has a rich history which I'll add too for your readers. :)

    My Twitter tweets page: http://twitter.com/Malthrope

    ReplyDelete

  6. Christiansen said...

    Well done Malthrope :)

    ___________________


    Thanks! :))

    Of course, until Alina gives me the thumbs-up (perhaps with Erwin looking over her shoulder at the monitor) then I know it's the right solution! :) The key really is to see the line up to the 7th move with Qe3! (which pins the rook on c5 and stops Rc1+ from ever happening). Then there are just a few minor sub-variations to examine (before & after) and Wa-La! As my dear old friend IM Julio Kaplan once told me, "When you have a good position -- everything works!" ~lol~ ;)

    Besides, solving 2 out of 3 ain't bad! :P

    My Best Always,
    Alan Benson
    Berkeley, CA // USA
    (aka: Malthrope, Mal & Al)

    My Twitter tweets page: http://twitter.com/Malthrope

    ReplyDelete

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