Photo by The Great Roman™
Welcome registrant:
Biketripper
Meanwhile – and happy St. Nicholas day – this was from yesterday.
This explains quite a bit, as do the real Grimm’s tales.
Meanwhile, white to move and mate in 4. Good luck.
1. Qc3+ Bxc3 2. Rd6+ Qxd6 Ng4+ Ke6 4. f5#
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Speaking of moving, do you need to, want to move?
Have you been following Eccles’ Advent calendar on X/Twitter?
In chessy news, Michael Adams is the sole leader in London and four are tied for second, including Gukesh and the rather unlikeable Niemann. FIDE issued a “clarification” about what tournaments count for circuit points and a lot of players are seriously irritated at the lack of transparency. FIDE imposed that x number of tournaments had to be in different countries after the phenom of Ding Liren playing about a million games in a month all in China to be able to qualify by rating in the Candidates in Madrid that led to his beating Nepo for the ultimate egg roll. Former champ Garry Kasparov has a new Kasparov Chess Foundation Academy. And why not? He has some strong players… I hope they are good teachers… working with him on courses at three levels.
Yesterday, with black I had a long OTB conflict with The Club’s Leader™. He threw his own line of the Queen’s Gambit (Declined) at me again, which involves an irritating, but ultimately ill-advised, pawn rush on the queen’s side which I have analyzed and learned to punish. But, he’s a crafty one, yes, crafty he is. I got into some trouble and went down a piece when his tragic queen became involved on my side of the board. However, I spotted my chance and, realizing that Her Tragicness didn’t have a lot of squares, I plotted my revenge. I trapped that nasty piece and then, realizing that I could take one of his minor pieces without unspringing the trap, I gained back my material and delivered the queenly coup de grace on the next move. In the end game, in the two rook and opposite bishop endgame, I just outplayed him. Forcing our rooks off the board after he allowed his bishop to be pinned to his doomed monarch. Addio, Eccellenza! He had a passer on the a file, but I still had my bishop. There was no way he could promote. With my kingside four on three and a more active king, plus the piece, he resigned on move 38. Here’s a shot of where I prevailed. Black to move.
I figured that if instead of taking he went 2. Rc2 Ra3 3. h4 Kd6 he still is toast.
”Chess helps you to concentrate, improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules and take responsibility for your actions, how to solve problems in an uncertain environment.”
Garry Kasparov
Speaking of solving problems in an uncertain environment, today is a thin day for monthly donations. It would be a great day to sign up, via PayPal, or Zelle through your online banking, which doesn’t take fees. How about it? Can I get, say, 5 more today? Depending, that’s like a bag of groceries!
UPDATE:
Even as I wait for a few additional monthly donors, a loud shout of thanks to a “St. Nicholas Day” donor
JTA
Thank you. I have no way to write an email to you.
