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Jammo’s Chess Puzzle #87
Sammy Reshevsky was a child prodigy at chess who toured Europe then America as a young boy giving simultaneous displays to amazed audiences. ”How could this little boy dressed in a sailor suit be so good at chess?” He won the USA Championship no less than seven times and, according to Kasparov was perhaps the strongest player in the world from 1946-1956 although he never got to play a match for the World Championship.
Today’s puzzle is from the Candidates Tournament at Zurich in 1953, one of the strongest tournaments ever, where Reshevsky is battling to finish ahead of the Russians. His crucial game is against Geller, where Reshevsky as White has reached the diagrammed position below two pawns ahead. Surely this is a win?
He has just played his rook to f5 attacking Black’s last pawn. Black can defend the pawn with either 1…Ra5 or 1…Kg4, but can he save the game? That is your puzzle for today. How can Black draw?
Jammo’s Chess Puzzle #86
I get my chess fix each day by trying to solve Leonard Barden’s daily chess puzzle in the Evening Standard on-line newspaper. I think Barden holds the record for the longest continuous chess column and has been setting puzzles for well over 50 years. His puzzles, usually taken from grandmaster play, are quite difficult and if you solve them then you can start the day in a positive frame of mind.
I was slightly annoyed when I failed to solve puzzle 9416 (14/6/2011) as, like many good chess players, I have a questioning mind and I like to win! The puzzle was from a game by Vera Menchik, the strongest female player in the world in the 1930s and early 1940s. In the diagram below Menchik played 1.Rd8? and lost to 1…Qe5+ 2.Kf3 Qf4+ 4.Ke2 Qf2+ 5.Kd1 e2+ etc. Barden’s solution was that she should have played 1.Re8! winning as Qe5+ is stopped and next move White queens with check. Not content with my failure to solve the problem I decided to question this claim and look for other resources that Black may have. Today’s puzzle is was my search successful? Can Black win or draw after 1.Re8!
2R5/2P5/8/B6p/2k4P/p2np1K1/6P1/q7 w KQkq – 0 1Black to Play after White plays 1.Re8
