TWIC is 31. First issue 17th September 1994.
Vitaly Tseshkovsky (1944-2011)
Vitaly Tseshkovsky 1944-2011
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 31st December 2011
Malcolm Pein looks at the career of two time Soviet Champion Vitaly Tseshkovsky who passed away just before Christmas.
GM Vitaly Tseshkovsky, twice winner of the USSR Championship, has passed away. Tseshkovsky was taken ill during the first round of a Rapid tournament in Krasnodar and never regained consciousness. His USSR Championship victories were in 1978 where he shared first with Tal and in 1986. Vladimir Kramnik was one of his students.
B Kouatly - V Tseshkovsky
Hoogovens-B Wijk aan Zee
Anti Dutch
1.d4 f5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.e4 fxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qh6 Qe7 9.Nxf6+ Qxf6 10.0-0-0 Nc6 11.Nf3 d6 12.d5 exd5 13.Bb5 Bd7 14.Rhe1+ Ne7 15.Bxd7+ Kxd7 16.Nd4 Rae8 17.Qh3+ Nf5 18.Rxe8 Rxe8 19.Qxh7+ Re7 20.Qh3 Qg5+! 21.Kb1
Vitaly Tseshkovsky
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Bachar Kouatly
Position after 21.Kb1
21...Qd2! 22.Qf3 Re1 0-1
The London Junior Chess Championships took place over two weekends at the University of Westminster in Northwick Park with sections for all age groups from Under 8 to Under 18. My thanks to chess trainer Dave Rumens for this game from the Under10 played by the winner Ghautam Jain who attends Heathside School in Hampstead. The winning combination is today's puzzle, so: Are you smarter than a ten year old?
Ghautam Jain - Zheming Zhang
LJCC U-10
French Advance
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Bb5 7.a3 Bxe2 8.Qxe2 Nc6 9.Be3 cxd4 10.cxd4 Nge7 11.Nc3 Nf5 12.0-0 Be7
(12...Nfxd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Qg4 or14.Bxd4 Qxd4 15.Qb5+ win for White)
13.b4 Nxe3? 14.fxe3 0-0 15.Na4! Qd8 16.Nc5 Bxc5 17.bxc5 Qd7 18.Qd3 h6 19.Nd2 Qe7 20.e4 dxe4 21.Nxe4 Rad8
Zheming Zhang
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Ghautam Jain
White to play and win
Answer 22.Nf6+ gxf6 23.exf6 Qxf6 24.Rxf6 1-0 But, if you spotted that 23...Qxc5! or Qc7 win for Black you are smarter than a ten year old. 23.Qg3+! was the best and wins after 23...Kh8 24.exf6
There has been lots of chess in the movies recently for example in X Men First Class. In which recent motion picture does this checkmate appear? You have to be listening carefully as it doesn't appear on the board but only in the dialogue.
Answer: Sherlock Holmes mates Professor Moriarty. The latter stages of the game are conducted without the players appearing to be looking at the board.
A second and rather harder puzzle. At first sight, the position below looks winning for Black but after White's next move it's winning for White.
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White to play and win.
Answer: 1.Kb4! and Nf5# can only be prevented by 1...Kg7 which is met by 2.Ne8+. A king move to the 'd' file allows Rd7 and 1.Kb3 or Kb2 allow Rc5.
