Play chess online, chess puzzles, chess teams, free chess online, chess games, chess games database, free online chess games, chess league, board games, online games, chess clubs and more...

Tags: play chess online, online chess, chess online, chess, play chess online, chess, sudoku

Chess Forum
intochess.com << online chess - < chess - chess > - chess online >>

From	Message
Posted by ganstaman intochess.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 intochess.com 5/04/2008 08:21:53 Play online chess	I think the answer is Message: 1. Qh4 Rh1!
Posted by sf115 intochess.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 ——— Chess piece value — When I teach a class of beginning players, it is customary to explain the “value” of the chess pieces. If both sides exchange pieces, knowing their approximate value will help explain who gets the better deal. Some things are pretty obvious, like if I capture a queen and my opponent captures a bishop, we both know who is doing better. But some things are not so clear. I try to make analogies when I teach. Some hit the mark, and some confuse the student even more! But before I try to confuse my readers, let us look at standard values: Queen = 9, Rook = 5, Bishop = 3, Knight = 3, Pawn = 1. The king does not have a capture value, since we do not capture the king. (You can’t say, “I captured his knight and two pawns for...
Posted by ganstaman intochess.com 5/04/2008 09:50:31 Play online chess	Message: Ah, that seems to do it. Thanks. ——— Chess: Karpov turns the screw — Karpov-Smyslov, Moscow 1972. White has come out of the opening with a certain spatial advantage. Now he has to find a plan. Warning: you're not looking for a sacrificial combination – this is Karpovian, it's all about subtlety and strategy. RB: I've nominated Karpov's Strategic Wins 1: The Making of a Champion by Tibor Karolyi (Quality Chess) for our book of the year award. It's a year-on-year account of Karpov's career from 1961 to 1985, nicely laid out and well annotated. Karpov's style is positional, unhurried and exceptionally deep. Constantly alert to the counter-stroke, he likes to make small improving moves. Some of Karpov's choices remain, even with the help of a chess computer, mysterious, as ...
Posted by lighttotheright intochess.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. ——— Winning in long run requires motivation — Chess is a worthy pursuit for all seasons of life; 6- and 7-year-olds can play a pretty good game. In recent years, chess players in their early teens have become grandmasters. And a 20-year-old, Magnus Carlsen, is the highest-rated chess player in the world. Meanwhile, 82-year-old Viktor Korchnoi is still capable of winning tournaments, though not at the same level as before. When do chess grandmasters reach their peak? The ballpark figure used to be 35. But two chess players in their early 40s — the champion, Viswanathan Anand; and the challenger, Boris Gelfand — will face off for the world title in the summer. Gelfand embraces the age factor. He sees no decline in his ...
Posted by heinzkat intochess.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). ——— Chess: European Players Are Well Paid for Team Play — The difference between the game in the United States and Europe is easy to illustrate by comparing two team competitions currently under way. The European Club Cup, which ends Sunday in Slovenia, features many of the world’s best chess players, among them Boris Gelfand, Peter Svidler, Teimour Radjabov and Ruslan Ponomariov. They have no particular loyalty to their chess clubs. They are playing because they are being paid, often quite well. And the clubs with the deepest pockets, like OSG Baden Baden in Germany and Tomsk-400 in Russia, are the only ones with a legitimate chance to win the chess tournament. Compare that to the setup of the United States Chess League, which just finished its fifth week of ...
Posted by lighttotheright intochess.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. ——— Rule change raises hopes of Vishy Anand meeting Magnus Carlsen — A change to the world chess championship candidates rules has raised hopes that India's Vishy Anand, the holder, will meet Norway's Magnus Carlsen, 20, who tops the chess rankings, in a 2012 or 2013 title match. The 2011 candidates in Kazan was settled by knock-out, where Russia's Alex Grischuk controversially made quick draws in the long classical games to reach the final via blitz tie-breaks. Subsequently, elite chess grandmasters voted for an all-play-all format. APAs were used from 1950 until 1962, when Bobby Fischer claimed that his Soviet rivals had arranged results to minimise the American's chances. The chess tournament was replaced by matches, in which Fischer famously destroyed ...
Posted by lighttotheright intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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 intochess.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