Chess thread

[McGlashan]

Cracking little puzzle there. My best attempt so far is:

1: QB6, KE7 (forced)
2: KF5 followed by QD8+ but the King is one rank short of making it checkmate.

[Tal]

Apologies for leaving this thread untouched for a week. Here's a good way to kick us off in 2014:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/vg-interview-with-magnus-carlsen

[shipitgood]

Anyone up for a game? I'll go white!

e4

[The Baron]

One from Kasparov's twitter feed. Can you find the winning move for white?

[McGlashan]

Maths whizz, grandmaster and problem solver extraordinaire, Dr John Nunn sends his Christmas present to Chessbase:



White to play and mate in three.

Sigh that took a lot of trial and error. Neither the king or bishop has time to move yet both have to play a part in the mate.

[curnow]

One from Kasparov's twitter feed. Can you find the winning move for white?

like this puzzle , just understanding a combination of moves , my first thought was RxB but leaves black king with one escape square

[McGlashan]

Keep looking, your next move definitely involves that bishop.

[Honeybadger]

One from Kasparov's twitter feed. Can you find the winning move for white?

Qxf7, deflecting the Bg6 from the defence of the e4 square? ...Bxf7 then Ne4 mate.

[Tal]

One from Kasparov's twitter feed. Can you find the winning move for white?

Qxf7, deflecting the Bg6 from the defence of the e4 square? ...Bxf7 then Ne4 mate.

Great stuff!

If Black doesn't recapture, you can still play it anyway and then mate him on the seventh rank with the queen.

Alternatively, black can start throwing pieces away to prevent checkmate, but we are only looking for a way to win and that is enough.

[curnow]

One from Kasparov's twitter feed. Can you find the winning move for white?

Qxf7, deflecting the Bg6 from the defence of the e4 square? ...Bxf7 then Ne4 mate.

Great stuff!

If Black doesn't recapture, you can still play it anyway and then mate him on the seventh rank with the queen.

Alternatively, black can start throwing pieces away to prevent checkmate, but we are only looking for a way to win and that is enough.

its not that clear up , after Qxf7 black has to take the rook on b7 & white takes back but after Rook hb8 white has some defending to do

[McGlashan]

One from Kasparov's twitter feed. Can you find the winning move for white?

Qxf7, deflecting the Bg6 from the defence of the e4 square? ...Bxf7 then Ne4 mate.

Great stuff!

If Black doesn't recapture, you can still play it anyway and then mate him on the seventh rank with the queen.

Alternatively, black can start throwing pieces away to prevent checkmate, but we are only looking for a way to win and that is enough.

its not that clear up , after Qxf7 black has to take the rook on b7 & white takes back but after Rook hb8 white has some defending to do

QxF7 is the tactic, albeit without an entirely conclusive an ending as some puzzles out there have.

[The Baron]

Not had time to look it up but heard from a friend in Mensa Kaspy has a higher IQ than Stephen Hawking.

Any other "genius" chess players over the years?

[Tal]

Not had time to look it up but heard from a friend in Mensa Kaspy has a higher IQ than Stephen Hawking.

Any other "genius" chess players over the years?

The puzzle I posted the other day was from John Nunn. He's not a bad answer to that question, Mr Baron.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nunn

As a junior, he showed a prodigious talent for the game and in 1967, at twelve years of age, he won the British under-14 Championship. At fourteen, he was London Under-18 Champion for the 1969/70 season and less than a year later, at just fifteen years of age, he proceeded to Oriel College, Oxford, to study mathematics. At the time, he was Oxford's youngest undergraduate since Cardinal Wolsey in 1520. Graduating in 1973, he went on to gain his doctorate in 1978 with a thesis on finite H-spaces, and remained at Oxford University as a mathematics lecturer until 1981, when he became a professional chess player.

[MintTrav]

Not had time to look it up but heard from a friend in Mensa Kaspy has a higher IQ than Stephen Hawking.

Means nothing, particularly without the age that the tests were done being stated.

[The Baron]

Not had time to look it up but heard from a friend in Mensa Kaspy has a higher IQ than Stephen Hawking.

Means nothing, particularly without the age that the tests were done being stated.

I get how they work, FWIW I'm not sure age would have much bearing on the 30 odd points between them. My point is how many super gms are intelligent to near genius level?