My favourite studies – 2 December 27, 2002
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Today I would like to show you three more positions I first saw in the Roycroft book described on the puzzle page 2. Some of you may have seen them before – after all they are world-famous studies! But for those of you who haven't this could be a very pleasant journey in the magic world of chess studies.

J. Gunst, Das illustrierte Blatt, 1922

White to play and win

Now this is a really simple position, isn't it? It is pretty clear that White must capture the black pawns without losing either of his pieces. But these are being acutely threatened by the black king.

We should be able to work out the solution by brute force. Let's start with the obviously bad moves: 1.Kd6? and 1.Nxd7? both drop the bishop and the game is immediately drawn. Any other king or knight moves do the same. This is an enormous help, because we now know that the first move must be with the bishop.

Let us start with 1.Bxd7. Unfortunately 1...Kc7 results in one of the white pieces being captured and a draw. This means we are left with only two candidate moves. We start with 1.Bb7, and are again confronted with 1...Kc7. Black again picks up one of the white pieces and draws.

So obviously the correct move is 1.Ba6. But hang on, after 1...Kc7 where does the knight go? Once again it is captured and Black has secured the draw.

We have run out of moves, the problem doesn't appear to have a solution. Maybe there is an error in the diagram? This is a very unpleasant possibility that come up more often than you'd expect in chess magazines. One spends hours working on a study and in the next issue the editor writes "we apologize for an error in the diagram, there was a white pawn missing on b5" or something like that. But rest assured, the above diagram is correct, the position is wKd5, Nb8, Bc8 / bKd8, Pa7, Pd7, six pieces on the board, three of each colour.

So how does White win already? Ah, this is your task for today, or one of them. Do not use a computer to solve the puzzle, that will simply spoil the fun. We will publish the full solution tomorrow anyway.

A.V. and K.V. Sarychev, Shakhmatny Listok, 1928

White to play and draw

This is not an easy problem – Fritz takes a a second or two to find the key move and understand it. In 1983 the readers of a German computer chess magazine reported that no chess computer at the time came anywhere close to solving it. I asked Ken Thompson to run it on his Belle machine and we were impressed that the reigning world computer chess champion produced the solution in two minutes and 20 seconds.

The basic problem is that 1.c8Q doesn't work: 1...Bf5+ 2.Kc7 Bxc8 leaves White helpless, unable to capture the bishop, as that would allow the pawn to run. The black king approaches and supports the duo to win the game.

The only other reasonable alternative, 1.Kd6, also runs into problems after 1...Bf5 2.Kc5 Ke4 3.Kb6 Bc8. Black will now win, e.g. after 4.Kc5 (4.Ka7 b5) 4...Ke5 5.Kb5 Kd6 6.Kb6 Kd7 7.Kc5 Kxc7.

We leave it at that, it's up to you to find the only move that draws. Once again: pull out that old chess set and work it out all by yourself. Pat yourself firmly on the back if you succeed.

J. Moravec, La Strategie, 1913

White to play and win

Normally it is fairly easy for the weaker side to draw in a position like this, since White will have to sacrifice the rook to prevent a black pawn from queening. For instance you can try 1.Kxg7 h4 2.Ra3 Kg2 3.Kg6 h3 4.Ra2+ Kg1 5.Kg5 h2 6.Ra1+ Kg2 7.Ra2+ (7.Kg4 h1Q 8.Rxh1) 7...Kg1 draw.

We leave you to work out the solution yourself. It contains two extraordinary points which should bring a smile of delight to your face. This problem is part of the Christmas prize competition. Do not, however, send in any solutions yet. You will be asked to do so after the 1st of January.

Solutions

Frederic Friedel