Christmas Chess Contest II

Since the first Christmas Contest was a success, I decided to launch the second one and hopefully not the last. Here are six problems all taken from actual games. Don't give up, it is not that difficult! Everyone is welcome to participate and certainly can solve at least a few!

Deadline for submission is January 10th midnight GMT. Take your time with these problems!

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. Also, if you know the solution and have previously encountered the position please indicate so during submission. While submitting please provide for additional variations, and as many of them as possible because even if you don’t find the solution, you still might get a correct part of it and this would give you points!

Now to the spot. The same problems will be posted at few other sites. 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

Black to start and give mate to the white king in 3 moves. Solution brings 1 point. This one should be easy to solve.



Position number 2

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



Position number 3

White to start and attack swiftly to give mate or gain decisive advantage. Solution brings 4 points.



Position number 4

Black to start and give mate or gain a decisive advantage (mate is more likely). Solution brings 5 points.



Position number 5

White to start and to win. A rather complex combination should give decisive advantage to the white. Those who succeed will receive 6 points.



Position number 6

White to start and to win, no questions asked. Those who succeed will receive 9 points.



Good luck and don't forget about the deadline!

Just a reminder about deadline which is tomorrow.

Now, first, the solutions and then in a couple of days, final standings of participants and famous Misfit's Cup for the winner will follow shortly.

Position number 1

Black to start and give mate to the white king in 3 moves. Solution brings 1 point.



Not so complicated.
1. ... Qd6-d1+!
2. Kc1xd1 Bd7-g4++
and the mate with Rd1.


Position number 2

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



That is an easy one.
1. ... Qf3!


Position number 3

White to start and attack swiftly to give mate or gain decisive advantage. Solution brings 4 points.


From the game played in 1946 by Bronshtein against Kottnauer.

1. Nd6-e8!
Now black face two main variations:
A)
1. ... Qc7xe5+
2. Qe4xe5 Rd5xe5
3. Nh4-g6+ and Ng6xe5 with two extra pieces

B)
1. ... Qc7-b6 (threatening Qb6-g1+)
2. Qe4-h7+! Kh8xh7
3. Rg4xg7+ Kh7-h8
4. Nh4-g6 mate.



Position number 4

Black to start and give mate or gain a decisive advantage (mate is more likely). Solution brings 5 points.


The position is taken from Bagirov-Gufel’d, 1973.

First moves are rather forced and evident.

1. ... Qd8-b8+
2. Be6-b3 Ra3xb3
3. Kb1-c2 Nd3-b4+ (this is unexpected twist with a deadly force)
4. Kc2xb3 Nb4-d5+
5. Kb3-c2 Qb8-b2+ (getting there through the back door)
6. Kc2-d3 Qb2-b5+! With mate in 3:


7. Kd3-c2 Qb5-e2+
8. Kc2-b3 Qe2-b2+
9. Kb3-c4 Qb2-b5 mate


Position number 5

White to start and to win. A rather complex combination should give decisive advantage to the white. Those who succeed will receive 6 points.


The position is taken from the analysis of the famous Geller-Karpov game played in 44th USSR Championship in 1976 (round 3).

1. Nf4-g6+!! Rh6xg6
2. Ng5-h7+ Kf8-e7
3. Rf1-b1! Ra8-a7
4. Qc6-d6+!! Qd8xd6
5. e5xd6+ Ke7-d7
6. Rb1-b8 Kd7-c6
7. Nh7-f8 Ra7-b7
8. Rb8-c8+ Kc6-b5
9. c5-c6 and white wins.

Position number 6

White to start and to win, no questions asked. Those who succeed will receive 9 points.



Karpov-Miles, London, 1982
Obviously, the position in complex. It might be that black can successfully defend because of their powerful knight on d5 and possession of vertical c. However, white had sneaked their pawn to a6 and can try to advance it further to gain a decisive advantage. The position however enables forced win for the white by applying brutal slaughter approach. White start with eliminating the powerful knight and then claim vertical c for themselves. This results in variations when black cannot prevent the advance of the pawn.

1. Rd4xd5! Rc5xd5
2. Re3-c3! Rc8-d8 (2. ... Rc8xc3+ 3. Kb3xc3 Rd5-c5+ 4. Kc3-b4 Rc5-c7 is countered by 5. Bf1-g2! And white wins)
3. Rc3-c7! (Also wins 3. a6-a7 b5-b4. 4. a3xb4 Rd5-d1 5. Bf1-a6 Rd1-a1 6. b4-b5 Rd8-a8 7. Rc3-c7)
3. ... Rd5-d1 (3. ... Rd5-d4 leads to very similar variations)
4. Bf1xb5 e7-e5
5. a6-a7 e5xf4
6. Rc7-b7 Rd1-b1+
7. Kb3-a4 Rb1xb5
8. Rb7xb5 f4-f3
9. Rb5-b8 f3-f2
10. Rb8xd8+

And now, the final standings. Sorry for dealy, but there were a few unclear details mostly associated with how the evaluate 2. Bg2 in problem number 6. Eventually, it seems that it leads to considerable advantage for the white and all who indicated it instead of 2. Rc2 or 2. a7 had received some points towards their submissions.

There were total of 6 submissions. Not many, hopefully there will be more next year.

1. luceafarul - solved everything for whooping 27 points! This contenst it too easy for him. Please everyone join to congratulate the winner!

2. IL2T (CFR) - solved all the puzzles correctly eventually but not as excellent as the winner. He got 24 points and his second place is uncontested.

3. Banzai - did not solve puzzle number 5 correctly and had small difficulties with puzzles numbers 6 and 3 but still the result is very impressive with 14 points a clear thirs place.

4-5. Rik Meleet and barbu 1977 - got 3 points each.

6. BuDDaH (CFR) - 1 point.

Thanks everyone for participating!


Here is the shining new cup (second in his collection!) courtesy of Mistfit for the winner of the Contest:



luceafarul

Congrats, Luceafarul.

And thank you akots.

congrats luceafarul! thats a very impressive victory!

akots said:

1. luceafarul - solved everything for whooping 27 points! This contenst it too easy for him. Please everyone join to congratulate the winner!

Click to expand...

Thanks everybody. As for being easy, I struggled quite a bit with #5. Fantastic variation, I wish something like that would appear in my own games...

Here is the shining new cup (second in his collection!) courtesy of Mistfit for the winner of the Contest:



luceafarul

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, it is very nice and most appreciated!

I meant to particpate but... I didn't.

Thanks akots, I plan to set up and play out the positions (besides the first two) and study them.

Congrats luce!