CHESS

Evening Star, Issue 19658, 10 September 1927, Page 17

CHESS

[Conducted by L.D.G.] The Otago Club meets for play »t the room*. M George street, Hannah’s Buildings,; every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturd; • cvenjnfis, at 7.80 o clock. TO CORRESPONDENTS. “F.K.K.” (Wellington).—Paper received. Many thanks. “ U.S.” (Port Chalmers).—Pleased to acknowledge your letter. In chess parlance a problem is said to bo “ cooked when there is more than ono koy-rnove, winch was tho case with problem No. .1,417. If you remove tlio white pawn on K Kt 2 from tho board, there is then only one key-move—-namely, R-Q Kt 7. The problem is now a beautiful composition with both white rooks co-operating. , , , “A.N.” (Hamilton).— Many thanks for letter. Your comments aro’greatly appreciated. ■ I am forwarding a reply this week. “ J.M.” (Dunedin).— Report received, and thank you for kindly thought. Correct solutions to problem No. 1,421 received from “ G.S.M.M’D.,” “8.1'.R.MD., “R.M.,” “W. 8.,” “J.C.,” “FAV.Iv. invite communications on all matters con* Kerning chess. Solutions of problems, games, and ftnalv&es will receive our attention, and 11 ol sufficient merit will be inserted. AH communications to bo addressed M Chess Editor, Evening Star.'] SOLUTION TO PROBLEM No. 1,420. By Lord Dunsany. black, 14 pieces. White, 14 pieces. White to play and mate in ono move. KtlKtqlrkl; bPlßlppl; pktbs; rPpBK3; pSpPPR; 71’; lktPß4; 3Q4. Chess solvers have experienced great difficulty iu finding tho solution of this problem, As I stated last week, a move bad to bo retracted by black—namely, tho illegal castling. This is ono out of the box for tho unwary. Now, replace tho black king and rook to their original positions. Having castled illegally, tho black king must now make another move. There aro two options—if lv x R, thou B x L mute j if Iv-B 1, then R s. R mate. Now comes the knotty problem, and that is to prove this position.Study the position closely, and you wi J notice that any other move by a black pieco must have been out of check to the white king, which in chess is not possible, so that tho only remaining move was for black to castle. The proof that black bad already moved the king at an earlier stage is determined by the "position on the queen’s side, for black must have captured a while, piece at Q R 5, there being no. pawn that could be captured on that side. . . Therefore white has replaced the missing piece by promoting a pawn in tho centre, and this must have been the Q P, going straight through to Q 8 (forcing the black king to move out of check). The. proof that the, Q P has been promoted is also found on the queen’s side, for white captured a black piece at Q Kt 5 or Q Kt 7, there being again no pawn that could be captured on that side. Therefore black has played Q P x K P, and promoted a pawn to K 8, moving one of the pawns on that file to K 5 after or before promotion. The black K R P has been captured by a major white piece, a pawn capture on that side not being possible. This problem requires close reasoning, and is not one for beginners. SOLUTION TO PROBLEM No, 1,421. By T. Sal chouse. Exora London ‘ Globe.’ Black, 3 pieces. White, 8 pieces. Mate in two moves. . 8- IPPIkPPP; IktKKt-KtklZ; 8; 8; 8; 8; 8. Key-move, P-B 8 Kt. PROBLEM No. 1,422. By J. Hartong (First Prize). Black, 13 pieces.

White, 8 pieces. Mate in two moves. 2kt282; sblKt; 2plkKt-pK; 2plplQl; qlrip; 3Rb3; 5RB1; 4i-kt2. CENTRE COUNTER. The following interesting game was played between Messrs J. il. F. Hamel (Otago) and A. Fothoringham (Auckland) in the recent telegraphic match Otago versus Auckland White, A. Fotlicriiigliam (Auckland); lilack, J, M. F. Hamel (Otago). 1 I’-K 4 P-Q 4 2 I* x 1> Q x P 3 Kt-Q 13 3 Q-R 4 4 r-Il 4 (a) Kt-K B 5 5 Kt-B 3 P-K 3 6 B-K 2 P-Q B 3 ■ 7 Castles B-K 2 8 P-Q 3 (b) Kt-Q 2 9 Kt-K 4 P-K K .3 (c) 10 B-Q 2 Q-Kt 3 eh 11 K-R sq Kt s Kt (d) ■ 12 P x Kt Q x P 13 P-K 5 Q-Kt 3 IP B-Q Kt square Q-Q square 15 B-Q 3 Kt-B 4 (o) 16 Q-K 2 Kt x 13 17 P x Kt Castles - 18 B-K 3 P-Q Kt 3 19 Kt-Q 4 Q-Q 4 20 P-Q R 4 B-Kt 2 21 Kt-Kt 3 P-B 4 22 Kt-R 5 (f)...P x Kt 23 P-Q 4 P x P 24 B x P (g) B-Kt 5 25 K R-Q 1 Q-B 3 26 Q-K B 2 K R-Kt square (h) 27 Q-Kt 3 Q-K 5 28 B-K 3 P-Kt 3 29 P-B 5 Q x P 30 B x P R-Q B square 31 R-K B square Q-K 5 32 Q-B 2 Q-B 4 33 Q-Q 4 Q-K 5 34 Q-B 2 R-B 2 35 Q R-B square R (R sq.)-B sq. 36 P-P 4 Q x K P (i) 37 R x R R x R 38 13-15 4 Q-Q B 4 39 B x R Q x B 40 Q x F B x P cb 41 K x B Q x Q 42 Resigns (j) (a) White by playing P-B 4 departs from the book. (b) P-Q 4, at once, is a far superior mi (c) e 'Black was afraid of the knight threat. (d) This was necesary _ before the pawn capture, otherwise the bishop’s attack on the queen would have driven this powerful piece out of play. (c) Nccesary to remove the strongly posted bishop. - . . (f) An unfortunate miscalculation by Mr Fotheringham. It is obvious that ho overlooked black’s bishop being supported by the queen. . ' , , (g) An attempt by white to induce black to take the bishop, and thus enable white to remove the wicked bishop on Kt 2. (h) A trap, with the object of winning a piece. The bait.- however, was not accepted by white. This wasted move nearly resulted in black’s downfall, as both rooks are now out of play. (i) Black decided on the sacrifice of the exchange. . ~ ~ , (j) If white played B-B 4, black’s reply would be R x R, B s Q, R x R ch, Q x R, P-B 4, with the threat of R-B ;7, which must win. Q-Kt 5 is met by B-B 3. . CHRSS IN ENGLAND. Played at Scarborough in the premier tournament of the Whitsuntide chess festival, between Messrs B. Colle and W. A. Fairburst. Queen’s Pawn Opening. White, Mr Colle; Black, Mr Fairburst.: 1 P-Q 4...1..Kt-K B 3 ' 2 Kt-K B 3...... P-Q 4 3 P-K 3 P-B 4 4 P-B 3 Q Kt-Q 2 5 B-Q 3 P-K Kt 3 6 Q Kt-Q 2 B-Kt 2 ' 7 Castles Castles 8 Q-K 2 R-K sq 9 P-K 4 P-K 4 Mt will be seen the game centres on this adroit reply, and now becomes a struggle for white to deliver his Q from the con-

sequences of his preceding imprudence in the premature advance of his K P. 10 Px K P KKt x P 11 Kt sKt Px Kt 12 B x P Kt s P 13 Kt xKt Bx Kt 14- P-K B 4 Black threatened 14 B x P (eh)-, 15 K x B, Q-R 5 (eh); 16 K-Kt sq, E x B, etc. 14 B-Q 5 (eh; 15 K-R sq IE 15, P s B, Q x P (eh) wins hack the piece. 15 B-B 4 16 P x 8... R x B 17 Q-B 3 Qx P 18 E-Q sq Q E-K sq 19 B-Q 2 B-Kt 5 There is a merciless sirain in blacks play that is irresistibly reminiscent of a cat with a mouse. 20 Q, x B Qx B 21 P-K E 3 QxKt P 22 Q R-Kt sq Q-K B 7 23 R x P P-K R 4 24 Q-Kt 5 P-R 5 25 R (Kt 7)-Q Kt sq Mato in three is threatened by 25 E-K 8 (eh). 25 P-B 5 26 R-Q 8 P-B 6 27 E-K Kt sq E-K 8 28 Rx R (eh) Rx R 29 P-B 5 E-K 8 ■ 30 Q-Q 8 (eh) K-Kt 2 31 P-B 6 (eh) K-R 2 32 Rx E Qx E (eh) _ 33 K-R 2 P-B 7, and wins A very clever victory.