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Posted by ganstaman ajaxwrite.com 5/04/2008 08:11:43 Play online chess	Subject: Puzzle 283 Message: Ok, the puzzle on the homepage at the time of me writing this (search for puzzle number 283 here: gameknot.com ) White to move, mate in 4. I won't spoil the solution given, as it is brilliant seeming to me. But how can black spoil white's plan of Qh4-(h or e)7-b7#? I can see black delaying the journey by 1 move, so it would be mate in 4. What did I miss, if anything?
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/04/2008 08:21:53 Play online chess	I think the answer is Message: 1. Qh4 Rh1!
Posted by sf115 ajaxwrite.com 5/04/2008 08:35:09 Play online chess	Message: If 1. Qh4 Rh1 white either: 2. Qxh1 a1=Q 3. Qh7 Qxa6+ 4. bxa6 b1=Q 5. Qb7++ which is a move slower than the actual solution. OR 2. continue with the original plan with 2. Qe7 Rh8+ 3. Nd8 Rh7 (3...Rxd8 also slows down whites mate) 4. Qb7+ Rxb7 5. axb7++ which is also in 5 moves. So there is only a mate in 5, which is slower than the actual solution ——— On Chess: Is struggling Anand looking ahead? — Recent months haven’t been kind to reigning world chess champion Viswanathan Anand, who posted mediocre results in three consecutive chess tournaments. His last effort — the London Chess Classic, in which he scored six draws, one loss and just one win — was, in his words and by his standards, “a disaster” not befitting the status of world chess champion. No doubt he was distracted, in part, by preparations for an upcoming May title defense against Boris Gelfand in Moscow’s renowned Tretyakov art gallery — a venue that Anand hopes will inspire “ beautiful and artistic chess.” Based on their past performances in hundreds of games, Anand is an almost a 3-to-2 favorite to win the 12-game match. He also has ...
Posted by ganstaman ajaxwrite.com 5/04/2008 09:50:31 Play online chess	Message: Ah, that seems to do it. Thanks. ——— Chess: The Year in Review — Chess again crossed paths with politics in 2011, with the most remarkable moment occurring in Tripoli, Libya, during the NATO bombing campaign against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the World Chess Federation president, flew to Libya in June and played Qaddafi. Ilyumzhinov had known the Libyan leader since at least 2004, and there was speculation that he was on a mission to try to end the war. The game ended in a draw, but the war continued. (Tripoli fell to the rebels two months later, and Qaddafi was killed in October.) Politics also shadowed an achievement by Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, an Iranian chess grandmaster who set a record in February by playing 614 people at ...
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 03:53:48 Play online chess	Message: There is an alternate solution that is not accounted for by this puzzle. This kind of thing irritates me. It turns out that my first choice was in fact correct, but the puzzle said I made a mistake. Once you know the solution, it is easy to see that my alternate path works because mine is based on the same principles that are used in the given one. It's still mate in four, but why are alternate solutions unaccounted for? I thought that problem was fixed long ago. ——— Marc Lang catches the eye by breaking world blindfold record — When Miguel Najdorf played 45 chess games simultaneously blindfold in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1947 the exhibition took over 23 hours, including an interval for Najdorf to change his perspiration-soaked shirt and rest his eyes. Later the Hungarian Janos Flesch played 52 games without sight of the board, but his claim unravelled because many opponents resigned after a few moves, and it seemed that Najdorf's performance would never be approached. But last month a little-known 41-year-old 2300-rated German chess master, Marc Lang, toppled the record with 46 games in 21 hours. In previous years Lang set a German record, then broke George Koltanowski's historic European mark of 34 games played at ...
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 04:22:15 Play online chess	That problem was fixed long ago Message: Lighttotheright, I think you're wrong here though - puzzle 283 has only one solution (for mate in four). ——— The World Chess Hall of Fame — The World Chess Hall of Fame celebrated the 10th anniversary this month in a new location in St. Louis, Missouri. The history of the Hall and portraits of inducted chess players are available on the impressive web site. When it first opened in Miami in December 2001, I was inducted there together with five great chess players: the unofficial world chess champion Paul Morphy (1837-1884) and the official ones such as William Steinitz (1836-1900), Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942) and Robert James Fischer (1943-2008). I shared the same birth city, Prague, with Steinitz and as fate would have it, we both ended up in America. "The decision of Lubomir Kavalek not to return home from a foreign chess ...
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 04:33:40 Play online chess	Message: The alternate 1. Nd8 works and is confirmed. It is mate in four just like the given solution. ——— 2011 Year in Review — And what a year it has been! 2011 started with St. Louis’ own Hikaru Nakamura winning the 2011 Tata Steel chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Holland, against the world’s best chess players. It was the biggest tournament victory for an American since Bobby Fischer, and his performance catapulted him to No. 7 in the world chess rankings. Although he has experienced some ups and downs this year, Hikaru is currently holding onto the No. 10 spot in the world and is looking forward to an exciting 2012. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, who turned 21 in December, proved he is worthy of his top spot as he turned in solid performance after solid performance all year. He is steadily climbing toward Gary Kasparov’s peak rating of 2851 and ...
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 04:38:41 Play online chess	Message: Heinzkat -- I'm not wrong. 1. Nd8 does work. The problem is that no computer can solve this particular problem from four moves out. The computer checking the solutions is wrong. Once you input the solution, the computer suddenly sees the solution at 2 or 3 moves out depending upon the program that you use. This particular puzzle is an anti-computer one.
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 04:47:30 Play online chess	Lighttotheright! Message: This is the interesting part of the puzzle, which is not covered in puzzle #283, since the puzzle application didn't support underpromotions of the opposite side back then. After 1. Nd8? [if I may boldly give it a ?] c2 2. Qc1 b1=B! Black is stalemated and there can be no mate in four. After 1. Nb4 however, 1. ... c2 2. Qc1 b1=B 3. Nd3! exd3 4. Qh1, it IS mate in four :-)
Posted by chessnovice ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 04:48:12 Play online chess	... Message: Sometimes puzzle makers don't have solutions entered entirely. Human error is prone to omissions. If you find an alternate solution, you're able to enter it. Nothing to necessarily get irritated about, I think.
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 04:55:26 Play online chess	Also... Message: Remember GameKnot does no checking of the puzzle at all - the puzzle application merely checks if all variations end in checkmate. If so, the puzzle is 'approved' 'correct' (twice '', ah well) an can be put up for others to solve. As you can see on the puzzle page, a lot of the puzzles still have some hiatuses then. If you think 1. Nd8 mates in four too, 'prove it'! You can do so by browsing to puzzle #283, hover over 'Options' in the right corner and click 'Alt. solution...'. This will give you the option to prove there is another way to play, that results in mate in at most the same number of moves as the original author. If all variations are correct, you can save the puzzle too, and the puzzle has been 'improved'.
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 04:58:36 Play online chess	Message: 1. Nd8 c2 2. Qc1 b1=B 3. Nd5 Qb2 (or any move) 4. Nc7# It is forced checkmate. There is no stalemate with my solution. The alternate is confirmed, and not seen by computer at four moves out.
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:00:17 Play online chess	Message: 1. Nd8 c2 2. Qc1 b1=B 3. Nd5 Bb2 (or any move) 4. Nc7# Sorry I made a slight error in copying the line. This is correct.
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:01:19 Play online chess	2. ... b1=B! Message: Not 2. ... b1=Q. Please re-evaluate your assessments. :-) (note that I hadn't noticed the b1=B solution either. A nice brilliancy by Ado Kraemer)
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:02:30 Play online chess	Lighttotheright Message: 3. ... Bb2 is not possible in the intended line! It's 2. ... b1=B, not 2. ... bxc1=B.
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:03:18 Play online chess	Message: I did it again. 1. Nd8 c2 2. Qc1 b1=B 3. Ne6 Bb2 (or any move) 4. Nc7# Those knight moves can get confusing. I think this is correct now.
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:06:00 Play online chess	Message: Heinskat look at the position. The key to the solutiion is the knight path. The Queen sac is to block any defence by black. The solution is very simple. 1. Nb4 and 1. Nd8 both work.
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:06:23 Play online chess	Note that in your line... Message: 3. ... Bb2 is illegal. In fact, after 3. Ne6, all Black's moves are illegal - it is stalemate!
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:09:59 Play online chess	OK... with a diagram then... Message: After 1. Nd8 c2 2. Qc1 b1=B 3. Ne6 It is Black to move. Do you see any legal ones? Interesting how Ado Kraemer can still keep us busy with his brilliant problems, 36 years after he died.
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:14:36 Play online chess	Message: OK heinzkat. You threw me for a loop with b1. I was thinking about the c1 square. But even with b1=B, it is still checkmate in four. 1. Nd8 b1=b 2. Qxc3 and my solution still works.
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:21:11 Play online chess	Well... Message: 1. Nd8 c2 2. Qc1 b1=B is the line that makes mate in four impossible. 1. Nd8 b1=B like you give in this last post, perfectly mates in four - but there's a difference. Carefully check the notations right from the beginning of this thread, I think I haven't messed up any of them...
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:21:54 Play online chess	Message: OK...It is still not stalemate. But it would be a mate in 5 instead. 1. Nd8 c2 2. Qc1 b1=B 3. Qxc2 and it is not stalemate. ...but it does take an extra turn to get the knight to c7.
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:24:17 Play online chess	Message: Sorry for some of the copy mistakes. My copy function on my computer is not working. I have to reboot my whole computer to correct the problem.
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:24:20 Play online chess	Exactly... Message: And therefore, 1. Nd8 is an incorrect try. Mate in five is possible in many ways - there is only one correct starting move to mate in four.
Posted by lighttotheright ajaxwrite.com 5/05/2008 05:58:50 Play online chess	Message: Well, it looked correct to me at the time. And my computer was not cooperating with me either!
Posted by chessnovice ajaxwrite.com 5/06/2008 13:55:37 Play online chess	... Message: b1=B is pretty clever! Indeed, prolongs the Nd8 line by one move. I wouldn't worry about not considering that though, since I doubt that very many people really would.
Posted by bogg ajaxwrite.com 5/06/2008 15:13:15 Play online chess	In case anyone else has the ... Message: same problem that I had. The reason that 2. ... b1=B doesn't cook 1.Nb4 and does cook 1. Nd4 and 1. Nd8 is because after 1.Nd4 White has 3. Nd3 ed: 4. Qh1++. Took me a while to see the tree within the forest. CTC
Posted by heinzkat ajaxwrite.com 5/07/2008 01:30:09 Play online chess	chessnovice Message: Obviously the composer did consider it :) bogg: indeed, see my post above too, 5/05/2008 04:47:30
Posted by chessnovice ajaxwrite.com 5/07/2008 01:44:28 Play online chess	hienzkat Message: True. But if you can't trust the composer, who can you trust?
Posted by bogg ajaxwrite.com 5/07/2008 06:35:06 Play online chess	heinzkat Message: Missed that post. Would have saved me some time had I noticed it. CTC