It's ... the Andrew Martin Radio ChessBase Show
Philidor's defence has never really been at the forefront of fashion, but
recent experiments with the improved move order 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3
e5!
have been encouraging. This week's radio show explores, dissects and comments
on the idea. Then we will look at the King's Bishop's Gambit through
the eyes of GM Mark Hebden sitting behind the Black pieces. And in the final
game we will be treated to a masterly display by Vishy Anand in an unusual
Queen's Indian.
The response to last week's puzzle was extremely positive, and Ray Dunne from
Dublin was the eventual winner. Congratulations to all of you for sending in
such stimulating, thoughtful and supportive answers.
So we continue with a study by Liburkin...
...in the grand manner of composition and invite you to submit your thoughts
to predictaresult@yahoo.co.uk. Complete analysis only will qualify for the
prize.
Last week's puzzle
This problem is from Raymond Smullyan's Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes.
It's White's move, no captures have been made over the last four moves. What
was the last move by Black?
There were a number of letters claiming the problem had no solution. Here's
a typical letter we received from David in Austin, USA: "The puzzle has
no solution. There is no possible black last move, assuming no captures in
last four moves. The black rook and pawn are completely trapped. The black
king is trapped. the black bishop is blocking the king from check, and there's
no way white could have revealed a check before that. The queen is pinned because
White's pinning bishop has no lateral freedom and can't move along the pinning
line, because it would put White in check. White couldn't be in check, with
Black to move (and Black moves away from checking). If you are doing anything
shifty, like "en passant isn't technically a capture" or some nonsense
like that, then I won't feel bad for not solving this puzzle. Please tell me
it's something lame like the board being upside down (even though you put board
coordinates) I tried to work it out for upsidedown and it was impossible that
way too."
It does too have a solution, David. This is the position two moves before
the above diagram.
Perfectly legal, no funny stuff here. And now the moves that lead to the problem
position: 1.Bc8+ Bh4+ 2.Ne1+ Qg4. Maddening perhaps, impossible
not.
The AM Radio Show takes place on Wednesday at 19:30 GMT/20:30 CET. See you
there !
The Andrew Martin
Radio ChessBase lecture begins on Wednesdays at 20:30h CEST (European
Central time = server time, which translates to 19:30h London, 2:30
p.m. New York, 04:30 a.m. Sydney (on Thursday). You can use Fritz or
any Fritz-compatible program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger, Hiarcs) to follow
the lectures, or download a free
trial client.
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Andrew Martin, chess trainer and teacher
He is not some unknown in the world of chess. Andrew Martin was the star commentator
in the 2000 London match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik, and he
gained recent international fame and popularity with his live audio commentary
on Playchess.com during the FIDE world
championship in San Luis.
Andrew is also a prolific chess trainer, not just live in British scholastic
circles, but also in a series of training DVDs he has produced for ChessBase,
taking full advantage of our Chess Media System. His lively, entertaining style,
combined with a good dash of humour, makes any lesson with him a delight to
follow.
Andrew Martin is 47 years old and lives in Sandhurst, England, with his wife
and four children. His book King‘s Indian Battle Plans for Thinkers
Press was an international best-seller.
Each week Martin will cast his eye over the contemporary chess scene, presenting
a veritable pot-pourri of interesting topics. We look forward to the pleasure
of your company.
Andrew Martin: The Trompowsky – The easy way
