Christmas Contest 2005

[akots]

Hey, the chess forum is not dead yet! I had this stupid idea for some time now. Here is Christmas Contest. It has 5 problems in it. Deadline for submission is January 8th midnight GMT. Take your time with these problems!

Rules are as usual. Please pm the answer to me no later than the deadline. Please do not use any chess programs to help you find the solutions. This cannot be checked and is a matter of honesty of the participants.

Now to the spot. The same problems will be posted at CFC and some other site. Whichever site has more submissions with more points, wins the competition! Of course, there will be individual awards as well! We'll specifically ask Mistfit to cast a Golden Cup for the winner!

Position number 1

White to start and give mate to the black king within a few moves (no more than 3). Solution brings 1 point. This one should be easy to solve. Taken from a practical game.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122182855_ccp1-1p.jpg
61.02KB

Position number 2

Black to start and to win rapidly and deadly. Solution brings 2 points. Slightly more difficult. Also taken from a practical game.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/200512218336_ccp2-1pa.jpg
62.06KB

Position number 3

White to start and attack swiftly and give mate to black king. Solution brings 3 points. Might be rather well-known, so if you knew the solution, please indicate so during the submission. Also taken from an actual game.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122183512_ccp3-2p.jpg
57.83KB

Position number 4

Black to start and give mate to white king in about 10 moves or gain a decisive advantage. Solution brings 5 points. Might be as well somebody knew the solution, so please indicate this. A tough nut to crack; taken from an actual game.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122183815_ccp4-5p.jpg
64.93KB

Position number 5

White to start and to win. A very beautiful piece of chess art, rather difficult to solve. Those who succeed will receive 10 points.



http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122183953_ccp5-10p-274.jpg
53KB

[Banzai]

Should we send you a pm with our sollutions?

[akots]

Yes, pm please. You can split it. Like when you solve number 1, pm it. When you solve number 2, aslo pm it, etc. I'll take care of results. :)

[Beam]

Cool you're resuming this! [goodjob]

[akots]

Just a friendly reminder to submit in time. :)

Must say that I have already received one submission at CFC which has essentially all correct answers. ;)

[akots]

Submission is now closed.

Solutions:

Position number 1

White to start and give mate to the black king within a few moves (no more than 3). Solution brings 1 point.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122182855_ccp1-1p.jpg
61.02 KB

A grandmaster style:

1. Qd3-g6!! and mate in maximum 3 moves.

Bronshtein - Geller, 1961

Position number 2

Black to start and to win rapidly and deadly. Solution brings 2 points.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/200512218336_ccp2-1pa.jpg
62.06 KB

A master style:

1. ... Re8-e1!! and black wins.

Belen'ky - Pirogov, 1957

Position number 3

White to start and attack swiftly and give mate to black king. Solution brings 3 points.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122183512_ccp3-2p.jpg
57.83 KB

A spectacular and very non-standard combination indeed, very italian and romantic:

1. Qg2-g4+!! Be6xg4
2. Rg6xh6+! g7xh6
3. Bb3-f7 checkmate!

Vakkaroni - Maccokki, 1891

Position number 4

Black to start and give mate to white king in about 10 moves or gain a decisive advantage. Solution brings 5 points.

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122183815_ccp4-5p.jpg
64.93 KB

There is obviously something wrong in this postion. What is wrong? Black has too many pieces on the 8th row. All of them have to be removed in order to win.

1. ... Be8-b5!
2. a4xb5 Nh5-g3+
3. Ne4xg3 Nf5xg3+
4. h2xg3 h4xg3+
5. Kh1-g1 Rh8-h1+
6. Kg1xh1 Rg8-h8+
7. Kh1-g1 Bf8-c5+
8. Nb3xc5 Rh8-h1+
9. Kg1xh1 Qc8-h8+
10. Kh1-g1 Qh8-h2 checkmate. Now, compare the starting position and the final one...

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/200619194136_ccp4end.jpg
60.03 KB

NN-Mason, 1948

Position number 5

White to start and to win. A very beautiful piece of chess art, rather difficult to solve. Those who succeed will receive 10 points.



http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/2005122183953_ccp5-10p-274.jpg
53 KB

Obvious goal is somehow to seize control over f1 tile so that black cannot promote their pawn. Alas, this is not possible. Good thing, white still can win even if black promotes the pawn.

1. h4-h5+ Kg6-h6
2. Nd8-f7+ and now black face a tough choice:

A:
2. ... Kh6-g7
3. Nf7-g5+ Kg7-g8
4. Re7-e8+ Kg8-g7

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/200619194241_ccp5a5.jpg
52.97 KB

5. h5-h6+ Kg7-g6
6. Kf4-g4 f2-f1Q
7. Re8-e6+ Qf1-f6
8. Re6xf6+ Kg6xf6
9. Kg4-h5! and white wins

B:
2. ... Kh6xh5
3. Re7-e5+ Kh5-h4
4. Nf7-g5 f2-f1Q+
5. Ng5-f3+ Kh4-h3
6. Re5-h5+ Kh3-g2
7. Rh5-h2 checkmate, a spectacular ending:

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/200619194254_ccp5b7.jpg
53.28 KB

Problem composed by Kasparyan in 1936

Thanks everyone for their submissions. The results will be announced shortly in the same thread!

[akots]

Now, the results:

There were total of 7 submissions for the Contest, all from very strong players. All participants were able to solve at least one problem correctly.

Individual standings:

Banzai, being the famous CDZ champion, apparently did not have enough time to devote to the competition and have submitted only a quick solution to one problem therefore getting 1 point.

kryszcztov was so busy playing Civ4 that he was only able to solve problems 1 and 3 correclty thus getting 4 points.

Narz managed to solve numbers 1-3 and had partially solved number 5 (2 points out of 10) for a total of 8 points.

col struggled without a board but managed to solve numbers 1-3 and partially solve numbers 4 (1 point out of 5) and 5 (2 points out of 10) for a total of 9 points.

Bronze award goes to Rik Meleet who solved numbers 1-4 and did not even start on number 5 thus getting 11 points total.

Silver award goes to FortyJ for solving numbers 1-3 and 5 as well for a total of 16 points.

An now may I introduce you the winner of the contest, luceafarul who is a member of CFC. He managed to solve all problems correctly providing very extensive analysis of all positions thus receiving 21!!!! points.

Congratulations, luceafarul The Morning Star!!! [thumbsup]

Here is the gorgeous award for a winner, a delightful Christmas cup courtesy of Mistfit with a portrait on Eminescu on it:

http://www.civ3duelzone.com/forum/uploaded/akots/200619205116_Luceaferul.gif
36.51KB

Since this first intersite contest had been a huge success, I'm currently planning another contest in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

[Rik Meleet]

Congrats Luceaferul !

[Socrates]

I think Banzai will kill me for drawing such an ugly cup last time... [blush] Congrats to luceaferul ! [goodjob]

Yup I forgot to try the other problems this weekend (I always end up doing stuff at the last moment, so that was planned back then), and am instead playing those Civ4 games. At least you'll get some reports to read very soon, featuring hundreds of pics !! :)

Anyway, thanks goes to akots, and I hope you come back with more problems soon. Chess is when the relentless Reality crashes into everlasting Beauty. [hmm]