The provisorial award of the tourney Mario Garcia 75 JT was published yesterday on the ARVES website. 164(!!) studies by 71 composers from 27 countries took part.
Of course, there is enough material to enjoy for a few days. However, one study will immediately interest the readers of this blog.
Luis Miguel González
special prize in section A.1 Win, studies with more than 7 pieces
White to move and win.
The author's name has appeared here recently, and some readers can probably guess what's coming next.
1. Bb6+ Kxb6. Oops, there are only 7 pieces left.
And the first move with EGTB material is 2. Nc8+.
And what do we get, when we follow the recipe given here?
A slightly different position, but after 1. Nc8+ everything is fine again!
13. September 2023
It is really that simple (II)
Let me say something in advance: The DTZ topic is closed for me at the
moment.
White to move and White wins.
The fragment offered for download has these moves:
1. Kf1 Rh1+ 2. Ke2 Rh2+ 3. Kd1 Rh1+ 4. Kc2 Rh2+ 5. Kb1 Rh1+ 6. Kb2 Bg7+ 7. Kc2 Rh2+ 8. Kd1 Rh1+ 9. Ke2 Rh2+ 10. Kf1 Rh1+ 11. Kg2 Rg1+ 12. Kf3 Rf1+ 13. Ke2 Rf2+ 14. Kd1 Rf1+ 15. Kc2 Rf2+ 16. Kb3 Rf3+ 17. Ka4 Rf4+ 18. Kb5 Rf5+ 19. Ka6 Rf6+ 20. Ka5 Rf5+ 21. Nb5 Rf1 22. Nc7+ Kd7 23. Na6 Ra1+ 24. Kb5 Rb1+ 25. Kc4 Rc1+ 26. Kd3 Rc3+ 27. Ke4 Rc4+ 28. Kd5 Rd4+ 29. Kc5 Be5 30. a8=Q Bf6 31. Qa7+ Kc8 32. Qc7# 1-0
And this is the example I found when I was looking for something completely different (see the Addendum here, if you are curious).
White to move and win.
Luis Miguel González (Spain) (After V. Anufriev, 1982)
Special prize 18th UAPA, 2022.
The author's solution starts with 1. a7 Rh1+ 2. Ke2, thereby reaching the position from above's move sequence after White's second move, and follows this sequence until Black's 24th.
For more details please see the award.
I would like to add that I have not the slightest objection to L.M. González and of course I have no idea how he composes his studies. I just collect randomly found examples.
17. September 2023
It is really that simple (III)
Black to move and White wins.
L.M. Gonzalez
1st prize Seven Chess Notes 2021.
No, you are not going to find this one under KRBN vs KBP!
The first moves of the solution however indicate where to search:
1.. h2 2. Ng4 h1=Q.
So, it is KRBN vs KQB where the search has to be done.
And that is what https://syzygy-tables.info will show you.
There are significant differences, which however vanish after four more moves. Only the mirrored image stays.
White to move and win.
L.M. Gonzalez
3rd prize Selivanov 55 JT, 2022.
Nine pieces. How do we get this one? Well, drop the two h-pawns.
The solutions are then quite similar, even though the positions are not equal.
17. September 2023
It is really that simple (IV)
White to move and win.
L.M. Gonzalez
2nd prize Moscow ty, 2022.
1. b7 Bc7 2.e7 Re1. Let's call this position X.
And that's what you get at https://syzygy-tables.info .
Here the DTZ moves are 1. Kg6 Re1, after which position X is reached.
25. October 2023
It is really that simple (V)
Submissions for the 22nd UAPA tourney are possible until the end of the year and studies that have already been submitted are published regularly on the UAPA website. While browsing these studies this one caught my attention.
White to move and win.
Evgeny Kopylov (Russia)
submitted to section B.1 of 22th UAPA (see here).
The first move is 1.Kf6.
Not exactly my material (the knight is on the wrong side), but nevertheless I played through the solution. There are no pawn moves and no captures until White's 13th move. So let's check what 2-clicking would deliver.
This is the resulting position. It is White to move, but Black wins.
The DTZ value is 27.
Let me switch colors.
Black to move and White wins.
The downloadable DTZ maximal sequence starts with 1.. Ng5+ 2.Kg7 Ne6+ 3.Kf6, and so we have reached the position of Kopylov's study after 1.Kf6.
The DTZ sequence and Kopylov's mainline coincide until White's 14th or 12th move, resp.
Addendum (20 November 2023): This example was discovered and also published long before me by Daniele Gatti (see the discussions of the FIDE World Cup 2023 at Chess Study Art).
26. October 2023
It is really that simple (VI)
Every time I continue this little series it comes as a surprise to me. But today the surprise was particularly big. It's no secret that over the last few months my favorite material has been knight plus pawn vs pawns. And of course I looked at the associated 2-click positions. This includes the following, which I know particularly well, but more on that later.
White to move and win.
If you 2-click this material at https://syzygy-tables.info/, you will get it with colors reversed (see here). The DTZ value is 68.
The first move is 1.Na5. After Black's 11th move the position repeats, but then it is White to move. In other words, White has won a tempo which he can use to bring his king closer to the center.
Let's have a look at the course of the knight and the black king.
White's moves are not completely forced, but the alternatives are take back moves or waste of time duals.
The maneuver itself is therefore very suitable for a study. Only the white king moves that must occur after each execution of the maneuver are arbitrary.
On my way to becoming a composer, I looked at the studies of some tourneys today. Among them was Pervakov 60 JT. There I saw the following position.
White to move and win.
L.M. Gonzales
Pervakov 60 JT, 3rd honorable mention.
Compared to the position above, the pawns g2 and g3 have been added. This makes the move of the white king after the first execution of the maneuver unique. In Gonzalez's main line, the maneuver is completed only once, but almost twice. Only the final move 22.. Kd4 is missing to complete it the second time and instead 22.. Kd2 is played (22.. Kd4 starts a variation, however).
At this point the facts are presented and the post could end here. But there is more to report today.
In my blog post “Three studies submitted” I wrote on September 30th:
"And today is also the deadline for entries for the 9th Composing Tourney of FRME, 2023. Here is Luis Miguel González the judge, who was mentioned already several times in this blog. I couldn't resist submitting a study that I thought he'd like."
And here is this study.
White to move and win.
Let's consider the mainline only. The first moves are: 1. Ng1 Ke5 2. Nf3+ Kd5 3. Nd2 Kd4 4. Nc4 b5 5. axb5 cxb5 and we have reached the position from the very first
diagram. In other words: I built an introduction in which the knight moves from one side of the
board to the other, which fits nicely to the maneuver to come.
The rest of the mainline should be obvious.
So have I joined the circle of 2-clickers? Absolutely.
But of course this only happened in this particular case, in which I wanted to find out how Mr Gonzalez, as a judge, reacts to such a study.
The moment I saw his study in Pervakov 60 JT, I realized that my study would be considered anticipated (which it of course is) and that no interesting reaction was to be expected. Hence I immediately asked the tournament director to remove my study from the FRME tourney.
If you don't believe me that I 2-clicked only for this particular reason, please consider the following.
- I report this here voluntarily.
- If I really wanted to get into the awards with such studies, I would use the program described in my blog post "High DTZ values and endgame studies". If you don't know this article, here is one of the conclusions: With this program I can easily create many more such studies, which cannot be found among the 2-click studies from https://syzygy-tables.info/. Therefore they would not initially be recognized as not being composed. Also I would certainly have chosen a different tournament with a different judge. But this failed attempt - like I said- was all about Mr Gonzalez's reaction.
Now I hope that someone else came up with the same idea and executed it better than me. Maybe Evgeny Kopylov did (see "It is really that simple (VI)").
19. November 2023
It is really that simple (VII)
After the 2024 release of the Chess Suite I decided to look at some new studies and I paid another visit to the UAPA site and there I found this study.
White to move and win.
Evgeny Kopylov (Russia)
submitted to section B.1 of 22th UAPA (see here).
Three pawns who can all move freely. That's not exactly suspicious, while the composer name is (see (V)). But if you then search the moves of the main variation for pawn moves and captures, you won't find anything after Black's third move. That's very suspicious.
Position after 3.. Kxg3.
So let's apply the usual two-click procedure.
Okay, I admit: I have already swapped colors, because at Syzygy Tables they use White and Black according to the tablebase name (here KBNPvKNP).
Btw, it is Black to move. So we have to execute 1.. Nf6+ 2. Kf5 Nh7 to get *Kopylov's position* with the right side to move.
So I'm assuming Kopylov has followed in Gonzalez's footsteps and is seriously trying to win tourney's with two-click crap. How stupid can one really be?
But wait a minute. Maybe I'm the stupid
one. Didn't I just learn this week that one of Gonzalez's two-clicks was just now
included by three judges in the Fide Album, even though the method has been known for months?!
How many tournaments might Kopylov (and perhaps others) have submitted such works to, and which judges do not recognize the principle or are willing to honor it anyway?
Addendum 18th April 2024: Today I saw the provisionally award of the 22th UAPA tourney (2023): the judge V. Neishtadt of Section B.1 honored Kopylov's study with a HM. What a shame!
15. January 2024
It is really that simple (VIII)
He did it again.
Black to move, White wins.
Luis Miguel González
Československý šach 12/2023
Yes, there are eight pieces, but without the Ph6 (which never moves) a highly similar position can be 2-clicked.
This is the position after 3. Kb8 in González solution.
And this is the position after 5. Ka7 of the 2-click solution (rotated 90 degrees clockwise).
The play then is essentially the same many moves. White attacks the black bishop with the king and one rook. If the second rook would be allowed to attack the bishop, White would have unpinned the Bh2. So, after some attacks the black bishop has to move to the protected square f3, and then the white king can come one step closer along the b8-f4 diagonal. Definitely a nice maneuver that's suitable for publication, but not for tourney participation.
Addendum 15th march 2024: The award was published in Československý šach 3/2024 and this study received the 5th HM in the tourney Československý šach
2023/ Nosek 70 JT. The judge was Stanislav Nosek himself.
12. June 2024
It is really that simple (IX)
Can a study be made in which a pawn wins against two knights? I asked myself this question today and looked for information in two places. Surprisingly, I got the same
answer.
White to move and win.
Vladimir Kuzmichev 2023
Uralskij Problemist - 30 JT, special honourable mention
This is a very pretty one that you can play through here.
The key is 1.a7!, a pawn move, but then it coincides with the 2-click example almost until the very end.
VK is a composer with many beautiful baby studies. I see no reason to believe that he didn't compose this one but 2-clicked it.
3rd July 2024
It is really that simple (X)
The tenth edition marks a sad anniversary and once again our protagonist is in the lead role.
White to move and win (position after Black's second move)
L.M. Gonzalez
Azerbaijan CCC-50 AT, 2020, special prize.
And that's what 2-clicking gives (colors switched, Black to move).
Both queens give check. But the *composer* found a solution for that. As usual, he got the rest for free.
7th August 2024
It is really that simple (XI)
(This part of the series appeared under the title "A new kid on the block" in my blog.)
I just saw that issue 223 of Seven Chess Notes has been published. It contains only one study.
H. Volker (Switzerland)
White to move and win.
The name does not appear in my database with all studies from the Arves site, so let's see what the newcomer has to offer.
This position is reached after 1. Rf7+ Kb8 2. Nb4 a1=Q.
And this is the start position of the 2-click result of KRBN vs KQB and after 1. Be4+ Kb8 - oh wonder - we have reached the position above.
Volker's solution coincides with the 2-click fragment until 15. Bd5. He then lets Black play 15.. Qa6+, while the DTZ-maximizing move sequence continues with 15.. Qe1+. He'll have his reasons.
What a debut!
The 2-click example was published on this website on September 24, 2023 as no. 1425.
25th September 2024
It is really that simple (XII)
The publication policy of Seven Chess Notes is a bit strange this year. In part (XI) of this series I reported from a study published in no. 223. Currently, four issues (out of twelve) have been published for 2024. They have the numbers 216, 217, 222 and 223. The most recent issue is 217, which we are reporting on today.
This new issue contains two studies by Volker Hergert (Switzerland!?), whom I know as a co-author of composition GM Martin Minski.
Volker Hergert
White to move and win.
Seven Chess Notes 217, problem no. 10876.
This is the corresponding 2-click position (with colors and sides swapped).
The obvious similarities prompted a more detailed comparison. For this purpose, the PGN comparison function of my Chess Suite can be used. In order to make long things short, I present only a visualization of the differences.
On the left you see the 2-click moves and on the right Hergert's moves.
A white background means that position and moves are identical. The rose background means that moves are equal, but the positions are different.
To sum things up here: the play is very similar.
If you want to win with BN against BNP, it is perhaps not so unusual that there are such similarities. Therefore let's move on to Hergert's second study.
Volker Hergert
White to move and win.
Seven Chess Notes 217, problem no. 10877.
Well, this looks very similar to the study in part (XI)!
I think we can assume that Volker Hergert is the same as H. Volker in
part (XI), and that besides this difference in names, at least one other mistake was made in the publication of Seven Chess Notes nos. 217 and 233 (where the similar start
position is published as problem no. 11146).
Note that both 2-click examples were published on this website on September 24, 2023 as nos. 880 and 1425.