Pal Benkö and the Fischer challenge

Pal Benkö and the Fischer challenge

Eight years ago our friend Pal Benko, Hungarian-American grandmaster, World Championship Candidate, author and composer of endgame studies and chess problems, sent us the following three-mover as one of a set of Easter problems.

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Grandmaster Dorian Rogozenco delves into Fischer’s openings, and retraces the development of his repertoire. What variations did Fischer play, and what sources did he use to arm himself against the best Soviet players? Mihail Marin explains Fischer’s particular style and his special strategic talent in annotated games against Spassky, Taimanov and other greats. Karsten Müller is not just a leading international endgame expert, but also a true Fischer connoisseur.

When Benko sent us the problem he was 82 years old. He told us that he had originally composed it at the age of fifteen. The problem was first published a quarter of a century later. Before it appeared in the magazine Chess Life & Review, Pal showed it to his friend Bobby Fischer, during the Lugano Olympiad of1968. Bobby bet Pal that he would solve it in less than half an hour — and lost the bet.

We urge you to try to compete with the great American World Champion. Move the pieces on the board above and try to mate in three moves. The chess engine will play countermoves against you, and will stop (obviously) when you have mated the black king. You can take back moves and try alternatives. It's a lot of fun, almost like having a chessboard and pieces — and a grandmaster or chess problemist sitting on the other side, analysing with you.

Want to time yourself? Click "start" to start the clock.

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How Bobby Fischer battled the Sicilian

Fischer liked to play aggressive but basically sound lines against the Sicilian and many of his variations are still very much alive and a good choice for players of all levels.

Were you able to solve the problem in less than half an hour? Pat yourself on the back if you were, and a little hint if you weren't: in Lugano Pal joked that Bobby was not able to solve it "because you never play the Italian Opening, only Ruy Lopez!"

Fischer lost a second wager with Benko. After the latter had shown him the solution he bet Pal that he could find a cook — a second key move — by the next morning.

"I told him that was impossible," says Pal, "and the next day he paid up." In his very entertaining book Joys of Chess (excerpts of which can be found in a number of ChessBase reports) the author, Prof. Christian Hesse, tells the story of the Fischer challenge and writes: "Fischer lost the bet, because Benko's problem had indeed only one single key which delivers mate in 3 moves. A fully paid up, dual-free member of the three-moves club." Incidentally Hesse gives the diagram with the black king on e5, not e4. That does not change the character of the problem, or what we are going to say below.

So what is the delightful key move? If you are done trying to find it you can...

When he composed the problem (at fifteen, we remind you) Pal knew that it contained a dual. The key move is indeed unique, and only 1.Bc4 makes a mate in three possible. But on the second move, after the defence 1...Kf5, White can play 2.Qf3+ or 2.Qh5 and mate in the required three moves. The author was told by experts: "Forget about dual, it is more elegant without additional material." The purity of the position made up for the dual.

Problemists, fascinated by the position, have been looking for modifications that could make the problem completely dual free. Most recently, Werner Keym, a highly original composer, found an elegant "correction". I am not going to tell you what it is, or tell you how Pal himself masterfully eliminated duals in his problem. Instead we issue a challenge to our readers: fire up your chess engines and look for a modification of Benko's problem that makes it perfectly dual free. Naturally the position must retain the beauty and elegance of the original, and not change its basic character. Submit your suggestions in our feedback mailer.

For the best correction submitted we have a signed ChessBase software program waiting.

This is what two readers got in our April Entertainment article – programs signed by Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Hou Yifan, Judit Polgar, Anatoly Karpov, and Jan Timman.

About the author

Pál Benkö, 90 (born July 14, 1928), is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster, openings theoretician, author and problemist. He became Hungarian champion when he was twenty and finished in first place (or tied for first place) in a record of eight US Championships: 1961, 1964 (in that year he also won the Canadian Open Chess Championship), 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1974, 1975. Benko's highest achievements were playing in the Candidates Tournament with eight of the world's top players in 1959 and 1962. He qualified for the 1970 Interzonal tournament, the leaders of which advance to the Candidates. However, he gave up his spot in the Interzonal to Bobby Fischer, who went on to win the World Championship in 1972.

In addition to his success as a player, Benko is a noted authority on the chess endgame and a composer of endgame studies and chess problems. He is an over-the-board GM and also a FIDE IM of chess composition. The only other person we know who has these two titles is Jan Timman of the Netherlands. Pal Benko is also a dear friend who keeps in touch with us regularly, sending problems and puzzles for the ChessBase news page on special occasions.