3/9/2025 – The Prague International Chess Festival offers a wide variety of events, catering to both competitive players and chess enthusiasts. Among them is the problem-solving competition, which was held for the second time on 28 February. Milan Petras won the event, scoring 55 points, ahead of Dimitra Amiridou and Sahib Hasanzada. A notable feature of this year's competition was that all positions were curated by renowned chess composer Yochanan Afek, adding an extra layer of prestige to the challenge. | Photo: Petr Vrabec
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Positions curated by Yochanan Afek
The Prague International Chess Festival is a true celebration of the game, offering a wide range of events catering to different formats and playing styles. In addition to the traditional Masters, Challengers, Futures, Open, Rapid and Blitz tournaments, the festival includes unique competitions such as Basque Chess, Fischer Random, Pair Blitz, Bughouse and a Chess Solving competition. This diversity ensures that players and enthusiasts of all interests find engaging opportunities to participate.
From Mating with a queen; a rook; two bishops; a knight and a bishop; to the basics of pawn endgames – here you will gain the necessary know-how to turn your endgame advantages into victories!
On Friday, 28 February 2025, the festival hosted the solving competition. Milan Petras won the event with a score of 55 points, while Dimitra Amiridou from Greece secured second place with 50 points. Sahib Hasanzada from Azerbaijan finished in third place with 43 points.
A distinguishing feature of this year's competition was that all positions were curated by Yochanan Afek, the legendary Israeli Grandmaster in Chess Composition, adding prestige to the event.
This was the second time the solving competition was included in the Prague Festival, as participants had the unique opportunity to tackle problems composed by Afek. The challenge consisted of solving seven positions within a 90-minute time limit, with a maximum possible score of 65 points. Prize winners received material rewards for their performances, making the experience even more rewarding.
See all problems below...
Interview with Yochanan Afek for ChessBase India
Photo gallery
All photos by Petr Vrabec
Chief organiser Petr Boleslav hands the prizes to tournament winner Milan Petras
Smyslov cultivated a clear positional style and even in sharp tactical positions often relied more on his intuition than on concrete calculation of variations. Let our authors introduce you into the world of Vasily Smyslov.
In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.
Solvers of all ages are welcome to participate
The problems
If you wish to evaluate your performance with a clock, this is what you need to know.
Total time to solve: 90 minutes.
In the mate-in-two problems, diagrams 1-3, the key (first move by White) is sufficient for a complete solution.
In the mate-in-three problems, diagrams 4-5, the key (the first move by White) and all variations against the threat with White's second move are sufficient for a complete solution.
In the endgame studies, diagrams 6-7, the main lines until an evident win or draw are sufficient for a complete solution.
Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
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GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
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