There are many aspects to becoming a good chess player.  Rudolph Spielmann, a famous attacking player at the start of the 20th century, once bemoaned that he could see combinations just as well as the world champion (Alekhine), the only trouble was that he didn’t have Alekhine’s ability to achieve the positions where the combinations were possible.

Spielmann perhaps under-rated his ability in this area as today’s position demonstrates.  The position is from one of his simultaneous games in 1912.   Spielmann is a pawn down but his pieces are all attacking whereas his opponent’s pieces are not co-ordinated.   Were I White I would look at 1.Ra7 Qe7 2.Qxc6+ which leads to a R ending where White has a very active R and is probably winning.  Perhaps Spielmann can do better?   Can you?

1rk4r/1p3pp1/1Qpp3p/R3pP2/2P1P2q/8/2P3PP/1R5K w – - 0 1White to Play

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Have a quick look at the diagram below and think what move you would play for Black.

Decided?  I’ll bet most of you just thought “now what can I attack” and started analysing.  Kotov, in his book “Think Like a Grandmaster” says that we should first decide on our candidate moves (i.e. moves that are worthy of consideration) then analyse each in turn once, then make our final decision after checking it for unexpected replies.   So, with the benefit of this new advice, let’s go back and decide on our candidate moves.   You must pick 3 candidates.  Today’s puzzle is to find the 3 candidate moves that a grandmaster would look at and then choose the best one.  The grandmaster playing Black (in 1931) is future world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, so the chances are good that he came up with a three very good candidate moves and chose the best one.  Can you do as well?

A.Yurgis – M.Botvinnik 1931

6k1/p3b1pp/4p3/4Pp2/Pp1r1P1P/1P4P1/2p2R2/5RK1 b – - 0 1Black to Play

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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?

8/8/5R2/5p1k/5P1P/r5P1/5K2/8 b KQkq – 0 1Black to Play

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I was talking the other day to my tennis coach about a promising junior tennis player who apparently had really pushy parents (the “ugly parent syndrome” which affects quite a few sports).   It brought to mind the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer” where in one scene you see the arbiter giving a talk before the tournament about how to behave properly.  The picture then pans to the audience that he is addressing and it’s not the players!   It’s the parents all locked out of the tournament!

Perhaps it’s best to let the children decide what they are interested in.  This is what Cecil Purdy did with his son John.  Cecil was Australian Chess Champion and John’s grandfather had also been Australian Champion so the pressure was on, but Cecil waited until John asked his dad to teach him chess, then there was no holding him back!   John Purdy won the Australian Junior title then the Australian Senior title and even travelled all the way to Holland to play in the 1955 World Junior Chess Championships.

In today’s puzzle John Purdy is playing White against a Russian junior named Boris Spassky in the World Junior.   Spassky has just played 9…Nd5 threatening to win the e3 pawn.  Purdy must choose between 10.exd or 10.Bc4 or 10.Rd1 (indirectly defending the pawn).  Unfortunately the move he chose turned out to be a big blunder.   What was the move and Spassky’s reply?

r1bq1rk1/pp2ppbp/2n3p1/2pn4/3p1P2/NP2PN2/PBPPB1PP/R3QRK1 w KQkq – 0 1White to Play

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It’s not often that a chess player wins a “beauty prize”, particularly one as ugly as me.  But, back in 1977, at a chess tournament in Holland, this is exactly what happened!   Actually, I shared the “beauty prize” with my opponent IM Juan Bellon from Spain as we had, so the judges claimed, played the “most beautiful” game in the tournament.  The game was drawn so we shared the prize.

Senor Bellon was a colourful player, famous for his innovative attacks as well as his flouro coloured scoresheets which he coloured in with texta pens before each game.   He stars in today’s puzzle from his game against GM Garcia in 1976.  Bellon, playing Black has R+N+P for a queen so material is even but both sides seem to be attacking.  Can you help the Spanish IM finish off his opponent in a colourful fashion?

6k1/7p/4p3/1p1n1Pp1/8/7K/Pr5P/3Q4 b KQkq – 0 1Black to Play

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Being an older chap I find it hard to think of India as a great chess nation.  Back in my day they had only one International Master, Manuel Aaron, who was their leading player for many years, but in the last few weeks in Australia a player from India has just won the Sydney International Open in a very strong field containing grandmasters from around the world.

The best Indian player of all of course is Vishy Anand, the world champion.  Apparently he owes his success to solving chess puzzles as he stated “I started when I was six. My mother taught me how to play. In fact, my mother used to do a lot for my chess. We moved to the Philippines shortly afterward. I joined the club in India and we moved to the Philippines for a year. And there they had a TV program that was on in the afternoon, one to two or something like that, when I was in school. So she would write down all the games that they showed and the puzzles, and in the evening we solved them together.”

In today’s position Anand uses his puzzle solving skills to good effect to finish off the strong Russian GM Lev Polugaevsky (Monte Carlo 1993).   Can you find his winning line?

8/1r3k2/6p1/p4bP1/8/B7/P2qp3/K1R3Q1 b KQ – 0 1Black to Play and Win

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