And it’s good.
It came out 40 years too late to do me any real good but as a
chess book it crosses all the t’s and dots all the i’s.
Instructive with some well chosen examples and a nice touch of humour.
The World Champion Emanuel Lasker stated instruction must be mixed with humour.
It’s a great pity that every other endgame author have found nothing to smile about.
They have succeeded in making endgame study a dire struggle, a necessary chore.
This book…
….does assume you know some raw endgame basics and is sprinkled with
tricks and traps and a jocular prose.
As I go through it I’m thinking:
“I bet someone on here has fallen for that.”
The very first example. Sajtar - Benko Budapest 1954.
Benko has just played 1…Kh6 wondering if White will play 2.g8=Q stalemate.
Sajtar played 2.g8=Rook! 1-0.
Any takers for the very first example?
We see that same set up in CryptoKey - Luck RHP 2007 but with a different result.
Luck had the Luck. White played b8=Q stalemate.
Another thoughtless promotion.
DBUS03 - catnap642 RHP 2012
Black played 1…e1=Q Stalemate.
Worth mentioning that taking a Rook was the same result. but 1…e1=N is a clean win.
(Taking a Bishop will win but note it will be the wrong Bishop for the h-pawn.)
However why not Pause before you Promote. (Not as catchy as Check all Checks but it will do.)
1... Kh4 2. Kg1 Kg3 and mate next move.
Pause before you Promote..
Did I mention Check all Checks, (even the silly looking checks.)
catnap642 (1078) - mobkin (1137) RHP 2012
Where we add yet another case of someone missing a stalemate and losing (twice!).
All White had to do here was play 1.Re2+ and Re1+ etc etc forever.
If Black captures the Rook it is stalemate.
White missed it and a few moves later this position appeared.
White can now can just keeping checking on the 2nd rank.
1.Re2+ Kf1 2.Rxf2+ Ke1 3.Re2+ Kd1 4.Rd2+ and on and on.
Again he missed it and went onto lose.
Finally for this section look at this.
RedKnight12 (1398) - tonybilly (1833) RHP 2012
Did I mention a player missing perpetual check and losing?.
Or was it a player taking a perpetual instead of a win.?
Iron Duke (1567) - blacksnow (1719) RHP 2011
White no doubt blighted by being a pawn down happily took the perpetual with 1.Nh6+ and Nf7+.
White missed Philidor’s Legacy a mating pattern once seen is never forgotten.
But first you have to see it (or be shown the solution.).
If you have never seen it before then the chances are you will miss it.
Actually that is the same with a lot of mating patterns.
Iron Duke (who has given over 200 checkmates on here, some quite neat)
is proof there are lads out there who have never seen it.
White mates in 3 with 1.Nh6++ Kh8 2.Qg8+ Rxg8 4.Nf7 mate.
All of which brings me nicely onto The Chequered Board which is a magazine
produced by the Cowley Chess Club.
(who are who?.....Russ)
On the right is GM Danny King, the housewives choice for presenting chess on the telly.
I’ve no idea who the girl on the left is.
She is in shorts so she must be an athlete of some sorts.
Most likely the person who runs the third leg of the Cowley Chess Club’s rely team.
Also in the mag is this:
It is a wax model of Paul Keres taken by Clifford Marcus (who runs the 2nd leg of the rely team)
he was in the Estonian capital Tallinn this summer and took the above photograph at a museum
dedicated to Paul Keres.
This issue also gives two moments of OTB merriment which fit nicely into this blog.
IM Gavin Wall - Kelly Riley, 4NCL team rapid play 2013
White to play.
White, a piece up, can save the f-pawn with Rg4. Then untangle his pieces and
create threats against the hemmed in Black King.
Instead he protected the f-pawn with Ne2 and sat their dumbfounded as Black played
Qe1 checkmate.
Heather Lang - Martin Buckley, Chiltern U180 League, 2008.
We join the game with Heather two pieces down and on the point of resigning.
The Rook and Bishop combine well in mating a King.
The arrangement (Mating Pattern) is usually easy to see a few moves before giving the mate.
(if you know what to look for, that is why a knowledge of Mating Patterns is important.)
Here are four of the more well known R & B mating patterns in each quarter of the board.
Now look at this position. (White to play.)
Of course the big hint has you are primed up to look for a Rook & Bishop mate.
The position is from Duras - Olland, Carlsbad 1907 and Duras had no such nudge on
the shoulder to tell him there was a forced mate in three.
Duras played 25.Nf4 and won a few moves later.
The rare R & B pattern that alluded him was.
And it is rare, I found only one example in the RHP DB of 2½ million games.
Someone nip around to Jarschel’s house and tell him his game is in the blog.
shellcroft - Jarschel RHP 2006.
Tiptoeing to a Mating Pattern.
The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 156343
