Wednesday’s chess puzzle
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS
Troitzky 1866-1942
Piskarevskoye Cemetery
Troitzky died of starvation in Leningrad (St.Petersburg) in 1942, during the Nazi siege.
Leningrad (St. Petersburg) was bombed relentlessly by Axis forces for 900 days and 900 nights and, at the end of nearly three years, the people of Leningrad stood firm. Although the city lost hundreds of thousands of citizens to bombs, starvation and illness, Hitler never reached Moscow and never defeated the intensely proud nation.
The story is remarkable, but the memorial to the event, Piskarevskoye Cemetery is powerful beyond words. Roughly 420,000 civilians and 50,000 soldiers are buried in 186 mass graves in the cemetery, marked only by marble stones with the year in which the grave was filled.
Enemies, clad in armour and in iron, were bursting into the city,
Under the uninterrupted fire from heaven, earth and water,
Good morning! What a beautiful day! Sunny, green and not too hot…Today’s chess puzzle is about the domination of the Bishop and Knight over the Queen on an open board. White is down in material, but the awkward position of the Black King gives White practical chances. In order to extricate himself, the Black King must walk a very narrow path….unfortunately for him there is a nasty surprise awaiting him just when he thinks he is out of the woods!
White to play and win. Good luck!
Troitzky 1866-1942Piskarevskoye CemeteryTroitzky died of starvation in Leningrad (St.Petersburg) in 1942, during the Nazi siege.
Leningrad (St. Petersburg) was bombed relentlessly by Axis forces for 900 days and 900 nights and, at the end of nearly three years, the people of Leningrad stood firm. Although the city lost hundreds of thousands of citizens to bombs, starvation and illness, Hitler never reached Moscow and never defeated the intensely proud nation.
The story is remarkable, but the memorial to the event, Piskarevskoye Cemetery is powerful beyond words. Roughly 420,000 civilians and 50,000 soldiers are buried in 186 mass graves in the cemetery, marked only by marble stones with the year in which the grave was filled.
Carved into the stone monument in the photo above is written the following poem dedicated to their memory:
Here are townsfolk, men, women, children.
By their sides are Red Army soldiers.
With their entire lives
They defended you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the Revolution.
We cannot enumerate all their noble names here,
So many are there under the eternal granite guard.
But know, you who are looking at these stones
No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.
Enemies, clad in armour and in iron, were bursting into the city,
But workers, schoolchildren, teachers and home guards stood up with the army
And like one, they all said
Death will sooner fear us, than we will fear death.
The hungry, harsh, dark winter of forty-one
And forty-two is not forgotten.
Neither the shells’ ferocity
Nor the terror of bombardments in forty-three.
The entire city’s earth was covered.
Not one of your lives, comrades, is forgot.
Under the uninterrupted fire from heaven, earth and water,
You did you everyday heroic deed
With honour, and simply.
And together with your Fatherland,
You all prevailed in victory.
So let the thankful people,
The Motherland and hero city Leningrad
Eternally lower their standards
On this sad and solemn meadow.
SPRAGGETT ON CHESS