“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he’s always doing both.”   – L. P. Jacks (Lawrence Pearsall Jacks, 1860-1955)

(Photo from ”The Hustler”, 1961, featuring Paul Newman and G.C.Scott)

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GEOMETRY LESSON!

 

gm  Simantsev, Mikhail

im  Stachowiak, Kamil  (2446)

 

Open Marianske Lazne 2015.1.18  Position before Black’s 32nd move.  White is down two pawns but is putting up a strong defense, his two Bishops and active Queen creating threats.  But a curious geometric feature in the position allows Black to quickly overcome White’s resistance.  Do you see it?

BLACK TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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 FINESSE!

 

Bayramov,Elvin  (2051)

im  Guliev,L  (2385)

 

70th ch-AZE  Baku  2015.1.14  Position after 41 moves. Ofcourse, Black is crushed!  His Kingside position is ripped open and King exposed.  The only thing holding Black from throwing in the towel is that he is actually up in material!  That–and the fact that the immediate 42.Qe4+ can be answered by 42…Qf5…

 WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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AND EASY ONE!

 

wgm  Javakhishvili,L  (2486)

wgm  Gvetadze,Sopi (2315)

72nd ch-GEO w Tbilisi 2015.1.13  Position after 21 moves.  A curious line of the French Defense Advance Variation has lead to a position that–at first sight– seems tranquil and harmless. But never trust this!  Chess is a very VIOLENT game….and as Bobby Fischer once observed, just a handful of moves can be a life-time in chess!

WHITE TO PLAY AND CRUSH!

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Open Marianske Lazne 2015.1.18  Stachowiak, Kamil–Simantsev, Mikhail:  32…Rxg2+!! A well calculated combination. 33.Kxg2 Qc6+!  The whole point: the White King can not safely move to a dark square because of 34…Bc5, snaring the Queen. 34.Rf3 Nf4+ 0-1  Finally it is clear that the King must move to a dark square, when he loses either his Queen or Rook, or both!

70th ch-AZE  Baku  2015.1.14 Guliev,L–Bayramov,Elvin: 42.Rc7!! Deflecting the Queen. 42…Qxc7 43.Qe4+ Kxh5 (Otherwise White wins the Queen with 44.Qh7+) 44.g4+!!  The whole point. 1-0  After 44…Kh4 45.Qg2! and unavoidable mate.

72nd ch-GEO w Tbilisi 2015.1.13 Gvetadze,Sopi–Javakhishvili,L: 22.Rxf6! gxf6 23.Qg3+ Kh8 24.Nf7+! 1-0 Ouch!  There goes the Queen, for starters.  Note that 23…Kf8 would be answered by 24.Ng6+ with the same outcome.