Umesh P. Narendran

Study-Like Games Part 2

Introduction

Playing games and solving chess problems are considered two different skills. There are people who are skilled in both, and most folks are inclined to one or the other.

Chess problems are highly artificial in nature. They normally present positions that can hardly be seen in a real game. Their requirements are also bizarre. You need to checkmate in a stipulated number of moves, for example. There are variants where both sides help each other to achieve a checkmate or stalemate, or you need to force your opponent to checkmate you. Many believe that chess problems are for entertainment purpose only and would not help to improve your game.

Endgame studies, on the other hand, are more useful to players. In fact, many practical books on endgames quote many endgame studies as practical examples.

There are some differences between endgame studies and positions from games

1. Studies normally have only one solution. There is exactly one key move to achieve the task (win or draw) against all defences. If there are more than one key moves that work, the unintended solution is called a cook, and is considered a defect. It is not only for the first move; for each difference in each variation, there will be exactly one move to achieve the task. There are some exceptions though. You can have alternate winning moves that will be eventually win after repeating the position and following the key move in the solution. Also, after a few moves and reaching a won ending, there may be many ways to win from that position.
2. There may be some near-misses, known as tries. A try will achieve the task against all Black defenses except one.
3. Studies generally have only those many units that are necessary of the study. Removing a unit from the board would either make the task impossible or introduce cooks.
4. They key move will be an unexpected move. The more unexpected it is, the more beautiful the study is.

Often we can distinguish a study from an actual game position from these aesthetic features. But sometimes we get a study like position in actual games also. In the first part of this article we gave 6 positions. Here we discuss a few more positions.

Like a miniature study

Nobody will disagree if this position is offered as a miniature endgame study. So perfect and minimal, Black has intelligent defences and White has unique winning moves at each move! White to play and win.

The Plachutta interference

This doesn’t have the minimal setup for a problem, but it shows a popular problem theme, the Plachutta interface, in a real game!

This is the Planchutta Interference in the problem world. In this theme, two pieces that move in the same line are interfered by each other on an interface square. (There is a similar theme called Novotny, where two pieces that move in different directions, like a rook and a bishop, cause interference on a square.) Here, the Black Queen and Rook gets intefered on c7.

For comparison, see the next composed problem (by the inventor of the theme). Mate in 3.

See the similarity between the game position and this problem!

See the similarity between the game position and this problem!

Three pawn moves

Three consecutive moves by three different pawns ties down Caruana. White to play and win.

A suspicious game

Some sources say this is a fake game. Some say it is a puzzle constructed by Capablanca and Lasker. In any case, I could not trace the full game. But it is a nice position.

See the similarity between the game position and this problem!

Whose queen is en prise?

Black to play and win.

See the similarity between the game position and this problem!

The game that never happened

In the position below, Black is to play. It is said that Keres had calculated this variation precisely but this is not what actually happened.

See the similarity between the game position and this problem!

It is a pity that this variation never happened over the board!