Yesterday in Norway, in Round 8, Magnus beat Pragg and retains the lead. Alas, Hikaru lost to Firouzja. Fabiano beat Ding. All the commentators are worried about Ding Liren. Some wondered if this wasn’t some sort of stratagem before having to face Gukesh for the world title. It doesn’t seem likely. Some people wondered if Francis’ erratic statements were some sort of stratagem. Also, not likely. Perhaps a tactic.
Please remember me when shopping online and use my affiliate links. US HERE – UK HERE WHY? This helps to pay for health insurance (massively hiked for this new year of surprises), utilities, groceries, etc.. At no extra cost, you provide help for which I am grateful.
White to move and mate in 2.
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
And…
This is always very funny to watch ? https://t.co/quMVoqNKlI
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) June 4, 2024
This has been a very enjoyable tournament to watch – David Howell is always great, the confessional is fun, the format is pleasant (classical games don’t last forever, the armageddon saves the excitement for the end, less incentive for quick draws due to the scoring).
I was struck listening to Hikaru talk by just how deeply ingrained his made-up chess vocab is: “take the juicer, then I’m left with the two B’s and threatening to setup the kabob on the 3rd rank and long-term threats of an ice skater checkmate”.
Good reminder that if you want to overturn a culture you start by creating a new language.
I can translate some of that for those who don’t speak chess in the Hikaruese dialect.
A juicer is a … well… just about any piece, sometimes a piece or pawn that is hanging which you can take without negative implications, sometimes a piece that creates problems for you but was even more valuable to your opponent. It’s a piece or pawn that you take.
Two Bs are two bishops, “the bishop pair”, highly valued in the end game on an open board.
The kebob is clearly a tactic called a skewer, is a type of pin. However, just as all squares are rectangles, not all rectangles are squares. A pin is when you have a long range piece (line pieces – i.e., bishops, rooks, queen) lined up on two pieces sharing the same rank or file or diagonal. Usually, in a pin, the less valuable piece is closer to the attacker. That means that that lesser piece is stuck there, least the more valuable one behind is taken. A skewer is when the more valuable piece is closer in the line. This compels your opponent to move the closer piece, thus exposing the one behind it to capture. There are two kinds of skewer, relative (which means you can choose not to move the closer piece and, thus, you lose it) or absolute (which you must move the piece and, therefore, lose the one behind it. For example, a relative skewer results when a, say, bishop lines up on a queen which has a rook behind it on the same diagonal. It is not obligatory to move the queen. However, an absolute skewer would be a bishop lines up on the opponent’s king with, say, the queen behind on the same diagonal. The king MUST move out of check and the queen is lost.
An ice-skater mate is a back rank mate, when the opponent’s king, trapped by castling or running into the corner behind unadvanced pawns or pieces which can’t be moved, no defending piece being able to interpose to guard the king, a mate is delivered by a rook or queen which slides or skates down the board onto the back rank, digging its sharpened blades with a twist and sending that chilly plume of snow directly into your heart.
Here is an example Magnus (heh) blundering into a skater mate from my guy Wesley So in 2021. He has to scramble to avoid it. AND… notice that this involved a (relative) skewer. After Magnus blundered his queen by taking c5, Wesley skewered it with a rook which was protected by the black queen. Wesley’s own back rank is guarded by his rook on a8, so there is no skater mate for Magnus. However, Magnus’ back rank defending rook is in Wesley’s deadly kebab! He is going to lose that queen. He will lose the exchange. If 28. Qxc6 Qxc6 29. Rxc6 Ra1+ and mate cannot be avoided.
Regarding yesterday’s 80th Anniversary of the landings: I watched a short (~2 min) clip of that same Mass that you referenced, Father, available online at https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675060423_Military-Chaplain_funeral-services_graves-of-dead-United-States-soldiers_Eucharist. At the time for distribution of Communion, I was struck by the reverence of the soldiers kneeling to receive Our Lord from the hands of Fr. John McGovern. Father was assisted by a soldier with a paten, skillfully walking backwards on sandy terrain as Father moved down the line of communicants. If they could do it this way, despite the difficult circumstances, the fact there was a war going on around them, why can’t we! Our parish recently brought back the use of patens and we’ve had a ersatz communion rail (a series of kneelers aligned in front of the sanctuary) ever since COVID times. It can be done, brick by brick (paten by paten?)!
Aleteia had an informative post about several US Catholic Chaplains from D-Day, along with a photo gallery. Definitely worth a look: https://aleteia.org/2024/06/06/catholic-chaplains-of-the-normandy-invasion-photo-gallery.