Photo by The Great Roman™
Meanwhile, white to mate in two. How long did it take you?
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
Interested in learning? Try THIS.
As for this… this would never have entered my mind. That’s why I am not a super GM. Praggnanandhaa and Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Playing blind fold, is one thing. Would playing pieces but without a board be easier?
Sky is the limit! @rpragchess and @GM_JKDuda showed us that the mind of a genius knows no bounds! #chess #mind pic.twitter.com/TWzvPefBNV
— WR_Chess_Masters (@wr_chess) August 29, 2023
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
In another tweet, there is a video of kids playing without a board in a chess school in Nigeria. Digging around, “Chess To School” is a non-profit, using the game of chess as a tool to educate children in slums and schools.” They are using chess with juveniles in prison to help them learn self-control, decision making, patience. Kids from slums are not having live online tournaments with, for example, a club in London. Very cool.
Meanwhile, I’ve been doing a lot of “house stuff”. The price you pay, right? At least the price I’ve paid.
So, … Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance. US HERE – UK HERE These links take you to a generic “catholic” search in Amazon, but, once in and browsing or searching, Amazon remembers that you used my link and I get the credit.
The Julius Baer Generation Cup is the fifth event of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour. The tournament, taking place from August 30 to September 3, features three divisions, each a double-elimination knockout, where if you lose one match you drop to a lower bracket and can still win the tournament. Division 1 played yesterday (8 players). I am pleased that my guy Wesley So advanced. So did Magnus, Fabi (barely), and Alireza. In Division 2 (16), Nepo and Levon went forward. In D3 (32), Shakhriyar who is always fun to watch. HERE
Finally, supermoon… did you see it?
UPDATE:
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa aka Pragg went back to India today after his performances in the World Cup in Azerbaijan (2nd) and at the Team Rapid in Germany. This is how he was received at the airport.
A chess player gets treated like a rock star! ? https://t.co/HaS0g41VSd
— Maurice Ashley (@MauriceAshley) August 31, 2023
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WQ-B4 black will either move the king right or threaten with the pawn, but you have the tempo. Then WR-A8 checkmate.
I’ve got one in three: 1. Ra8+ Kb7 2. Qa4 Kb6 (or … d6/d5/c5) 3. Qa6++. And that didn’t take me long at all.
I don’t have one in two, though: the problem with 1. Qe8+ Kb7 2. Qa8+ is that b6 is still open, so that’s not in two as well. (That would be another in three: 2. … Kb6 Qa6++.)
And I just realized that BK-C8 breaks my assault because black can escape WR-A8 with BK-D7…
Fr Z why don’t you provide captions for these photos? I would love to know at least the name of this church in the photo.
1. Rb5
If 1. … cxb5, 2. Qa8#
If 1. … Kd8, 2. Rb8#
Max: Sure, sometimes I’ve provided a brief note about the photo but I usually let them stand alone. On the other hand, a) there are those who do know where many of these shots are and they can pipe up and comment and b) not that many people actively engage with these posts and c) the original intent was to provide a glimpse of Rome here and there. I am always delighted when someone jumps in and say where and what a shot is. That makes my day.
And, this is St Lawrence outside-the-walls… an very important church for the history of our Roman Rite.
San Lorenzo fuori le mura
I’m happy to see four responses to the puzzle in the queue! Again, I post these the day after so there aren’t spoilers.
Have at!
About three minutes, plus checking variations and (this time) proofing.
1. R-b5
If :, . . c6xb5
2. Q-a8#
If . . . K-d8
2. R-b8#
If . . . d7-d6 or d7-d5
2. Q-e8#
Mate in two —
1. Rb5! And now Black has no response to prevent mate:
If he plays 1. …. pxR, then 2. Qa8+ is mate.
If he plays 1. …. d7-d6 or d7-d5 (or even c6-c5), then 2. Qe8+ is mate.
If he plays 1. …. Kd8, then 2. Rb8+ is mate.
Indeed, Rb5 it is!
For those less familiar with notation, the black king is stuck. Rook to b5 cuts off any escape on the b file so the white Queen can go in for the kill on the e file. If the black king attempts a sidestep to d8, Kd8, then the white rook slides to b8#. If black’s c pawn takes the rook, cxb5, the white Queen slithers to a8#. Hence, the sacrifice of the rook clears the way for the queen. It’s a clearance sac.