The Happy New Year 2023 Chess Blog

Happy New Year and if your Birthday happens to also be on the
first of January then Happy Birthday as well. If you got married on the
first of January then Happy Anniversary. If you retired on the first....


A quick look back at last year. (because I cannot think of anything else. )
We had a guess the number of pawns in a goldfish bowl competition,


The Duck got married.


I modelled the Edinburgh Chess Club centenary goodies.


Then the Carlsen - Niemann affair which was fun at first then it drove me nuts.





In the 2022 Christmas Quiz I asked who were these people.


It’s the Knights of the Round Table...I added Sir Dim on the Rim etc
Well I’ve thought up another name for a Knight of the Round Table.


Sir Unsound Sacrifice.

I checked out a few 2nd hand places recently (see below) and picked up this:


The one on the right is my copy the one on the left will be up for grabs in
a 2023 competition, it will be open to whole wide world. Watch this space.

I was hawking around in a remainder basket looking for a sci-fi book.
I love my sci-fi but these days the modern writers have all been politically
got at and corrected by the goody two shoe squad. Aliens no longer eat and
chase humans. They fall in love with them and before you are a quarter way
through the book you realise you are reading romantic guff with a spaceship
on the cover. It’s Mills and Boon with men from Mars ( Mills and Moon.)

But I did find this;


Printed in 1967 by G. Bell and Sons Ltd. Bells produced some magnificent books.
This is just a quickly grabbed section of my Bell’s books. Wonderful reading.


The Love book was one of the first books in English advocating the use of algebraic.
It’s starts off explaining how the pieces moves in algebraic notation and then halfway
though the book it mentions descriptive (1.P-K4 P-K4 etc) shows you how to read and
record games using it and then proceeds to stay using descriptive as it takes you through
basics tactics, endings and openings. This is indeed a ‘New Introduction.’ albeit slightly
confusing. But than again, 1967 was the Summer of Love and everyone was confused.

It was Bells books that first attracted me to the pub Sandy Bells. I thought it was where
all the authors met and had pints of beer. I recall once I met Reti and there and we....


In the John Love book he advices this is an ideal set up for White


Of course he mentions Black will be doing everything he can to prevent this.

I found an instructive RHP game where White had this position. The instructive point
is something I warned you all about before on here . ‘Ideas’ Do not have any ideas.


If you do have an idea then look at it very carefully (and then dismiss it). It is best
to wait till your opponent has an idea. It will be wrong and you can act accordingly.
In the following game Black has an idea. (move 10...c6) it loses a pawn for nothing.

mazattack - albinos RHP 2009


This next game has bugged me for days. I’m 99.99% sure I have used it before and as
I keep everything I’ve done a search revealed I have never used a game by either player.

I have definitely seen it before. I may have posted it on the chess forum. I saved this
game in my RHP folder and only came it across it by accident . Can anyone recognise it?

gregytech2591 - PeterPatzer RHP 2011

Let us stay with White promoting and getting Knight checkmated on the next move.
Here are four RHP examples where White should have ‘paused before promoting.’

villainll - Steve in Sharm RHP.2017

All White need do is 65.Nd5+ and then promote. They played 65. a8=Q (OOPS!)

ataralarata - chessber RHP 2017

How about 56.Rg3+ and 57.Rd3. Instead White played 56.h8=Q Na3 mate.

frenchy99 - SunSha RHP 2014

White has many ways to avoid being mated but played 48 b8=Q Ne3 mate.

rking00 - vatiquette RHP 2010

48.Kd3 and it’s 1-0 but 48. a8=Q was played and after 48....Nf2 it was checkmate.

Staying with Knights and this time an alert pawn promotion.
In 2014 I put this forward as the best RHP ending of the year.

Here we can get inside both players heads and see what they are thinking.
White is sure they have tricked Black, Black knows that have tricked White.

carles - taheri RHP 2007



The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 195760