Category: problems

Forcing Chess Moves

December 26th, 2010 · lefthandsketch · Book Review, problems No comments - Tags: Charles Hertan, tactics

Forcing Chess Moves is a book that I cannot say enough good things about. I patiently put it on my christmas list months ago and have been waiting to get it in my stocking ever since. Having only had it for a couple days, I’ve already devoured the first three chapters and look forward to finishing it the first time through in under a week. The thing I like most about the book is its layout. Hertan lays the foundation in chapter one, entitled “Stock Forcing Moves,” in which the reader is confronted with a series of patterns which conform to “stock matting patterns” and other themes, which Hertan then builds upon in later chapters.

Two Elegant Problems

December 13th, 2010 · lefthandsketch · -, problems 2 comments - Tags: Bruce Albertson, Fred Wilson, Vladimir Kramnik

This evening, I stopped by Fred Wilson’s bookstore to check out what he had and to chat about converting his mountain of instructional VHS tapes to a digital format as well as updating his website. We chatted for a bit about the London Classic, and then he showed me a copy of his new manuscript for a tactics manual he is authoring with Bruce Albertson, one in a series of such books. I was impressed with two particularly difficult mate in 2 problems that will be coming out in this new collection. (If you’re looking for a fantastic tactics sharpening manual for the u2000 crowd, his previous book, entitled 606 Puzzles, is highly recommended.) While I won’t reproduce those problems here, I was inspired to put up two problems I came across this afternoon while studying at the Marshall that I found particularly elegant.

This first one is not too hard but will likely take you a moment to solve. It is white to move.

The following position is taken from the game Kramnik-Polgar, Paris (Rapid) 1994. It’s white to move, and here Kramnik played 13.Nb5, missing a winning idea. Can you spot what Kramnik missed?

Solutions after the jump…

Rundlauf Composition: A. Shuriakov & Szyonenko Chervony Girnik, 1985

November 22nd, 2010 · lefthandsketch · -, Endgame, problems, studies No comments - Tags: rundlauf

The previous post reminded me of this problem, which is one of the most intricate and wonderful compositions I have ever come across. It involves a “rundlauf,” which is a rare maneuver in chess compositions where a piece charts a geometic pattern on the board returning to its initial square. In over the board play this occurs most often in endgames (think triangulation), though even there it is extraordinarily rare. If you imagine yourself as white in the above position, where black has two pawns about to promote, would you be fighting for a draw or searching for a mate? The idea involved requires an elaborate sequence of forcing moves that pushes the king with mate threats at every turn. The knights dance in a cascading pattern across the board to remove a pawn, only to return to the original position and push the black king in the other direction to deliver mate. Think it over before clicking through to the solution- here’s the hint: Mate in 12!

Three Elegant Problems

November 17th, 2010 · lefthandsketch · -, problems No comments

White to move and win

Black to move and win

Answers after the jump…

Kasparyan’s Problems: Domination in Endgame Studies

November 12th, 2010 · lefthandsketch · -, Book Review, Endgame, problems, studies No comments - Tags: domination, Genrikh Kasparyan, tactics

Ghenrikh M. Kasparyan composed and collected 2,545 Endgame studies featuring the theme of domination, and this collection is one of my most prized possessions. While dominating a knight is not a terribly difficult task even in an ending, Kasparyan’s problems that feature the domination of a bishop or queen on the open board are elegant and evoke the kind of aesthetic pleasure that is unique to studies. Naturally, Nalimov tables have taken some of the wonder out of such positions, but I still keep the book on my end table and peruse its problems regularly.