Friday, January 08, 2010

Solving Contest ESSThCh 2009

At the large hall KAP-PA 2000, Peraia Thessaloniki Greece, the Union of Chess Clubs of Thessaloniki and Chalkidiki (ESSThCh) has organized preliminary Youth championships Κ 08 – 16, and also some athletes were honored. Among others, Kostas Prentos received a special prize because he is Champion of Greece for eight continuous years in Chess Problem Solving.

In Wednesday, December 30 2009, the First Solving Contest of ESSThCh for 2009, with Judge Kostas Prentos, took also place.

Comments by the Judge : "The solvers had to solve six problems in two hours. I tried to select relatively easy problems, but not succesfully because the No.2 problem presented great difficulty to all solvers. Ten solvers tried their hand, some with relevant experience, the most for their first time, and the general impression was that they liked the experience of the contest.

Winner was Kleanthis Vafiadis with absolute grade 30/30 in 83' minutes. Kleanthis is a strong player and has a long exposure to chess problems. He had earned distinctions in other contests, as a young solver in 1989 at a contest of Municipality of Athens, and later in 2000 at a Thessaloniki solving contest. I believe that he can achieve a good placing in the all-Greece solving contests.

Second was George Dalaklis, with 26 points in 118'. George also is a strong player, but as a first-time solver he ranked admirably.

Third was Elias Kakousatze, with 20 points in 109'.

The winners were awarded, the first with a cup, the next two with medals."

The ranking of the solvers is the following :

(1) Vafiadis Kleanthis, points 30 (minutes 83')
(2) Dalaklis George, p.26 (118')
(3) Kakousatze Elias, p.20 (109')
(4) Mimikos Stelios, p.12 (120')
(5) Konstantinidis Lazaros, p.11 (87')
(6) Lykoudis Kostas, p.10 (109')
(7-8) Peskelidis Stavros, p.03 (120')
(7-8) Ermeidis Panagiotis, p.03 (120')
(9) Alevizopoulos Panagiotis, p.02 (120')
(10) Zevgolis Nikos, p.01 (120')

We present the problems of the contest. Try to solve them without peeking at the solutions below :


(Problem 400)
Sam Loyd,
Detroit Free Press TT, 1878
Mate in 2 moves.
#2 (8 + 4)
[8/2S5/8/k2SQ3/P1R5/Pp6/s2p4/1K1B4]



(Problem 401)
Wilhelm Schroder,
Fourth prize, Schach-Echo, 1933,
Mate in 3 moves.
#3 (7 + 4)
[8/8/8/3p4/2BPSkp1/2PQS1p1/6K1/8]



(Problem 402)
Godfrey Heathcote,
Fourth Prize, Norwich Mercury, 1904-05
Mate in 3 moves.
#3 (6 + 4)
[Q7/8/8/3p1K2/8/3S3p/P4BSp/7k]



(Problem 403)
Bruno Sommer,
Second Prize, Die Schwalbe, 1963
Mate in 5 moves.
#5 (5 + 2)
[4r3/8/8/8/1B6/4P3/6R1/1K1k2S1]



(Problem 404)
Tigran Gorgiev,
Fourth Honoured Mention, "64", 1930
White plays and wins.
+ (3 + 3)
[1k3b2/4B2K/5r2/8/8/R7/8/8]



(Problem 405)
Leonid Kubbel,
First Prize, Siberia TT, 1928-29
White plays and wins.
+ (5 + 4)
[6s1/3p4/8/1P2k1s1/4P3/B5K1/3P4/8]




And now the solutions for the impatient...

Problem 400, Sam Loyd, Mate in 2 moves.
Key : 1.Qa1! (Waiter. The explanation for the key is found in the fourth variation...)
1...b2 2.Rc5#
1...Sc1 2.Qc3#
1...Sc3+ 2.Qxc3#
1...Sb4 2.axb4# (...where the wQ guards the pawn a4).


Problem 401, Wilhelm Schroder, Mate in 3 moves.
Key : 1.Ba6! (Waiter).
1...dxe4 2.Qb5 Kxe3 3.Qg5#


Problem 402, Godfrey Heathcote, Mate in 3 moves.
Key : 1.Qh8! ( > 2.Sg2~ d4 3.Qa8# )
1...hxg2 2.Bg1 ( > 3.Qxh2# ) Kxg1 3.Qa1#
1...Kxg2 2.Qxh3+ Kxh3 / Kh1 3.Sf4# / Qf1#(Qf3#)
1...d4 2.Se3 dxe3 3.Qa8#


Problem 403, Bruno Sommer, Mate in 5 moves.
Tries : [1.Re2? Rxe3!], [1.Rc2? Rc8!], [1.Rg4? Re4!]
Key : 1.Rf2! ( > 2.Rf1# )
1...Rf8 2.Re2 ( > 3.Re1# ) Rf1 3.Rd2+ Ke1 4. Rc2+ Kd1 5.Rc1#


Problem 404, Tigran Gorgiev, White plays and wins.
Key : 1.Rb3+! Rb6 2.Rxb6+ Kc7 ( 2...Ka7? 3.Re6 +- ) 3.Bd8+ Kxd8 4.Rb8+ Ke7 5.Kg6 +-


Problem 405, Leonid Kubbel, White plays and wins.
Key : 1.d4! ( 1.b6? Sxe4+ 2.Kh4 Sd6 3.d4+ Kd5 4.Bxd6 Kxd6 5.d5 Sf6 -+ ) Ke6 2.d5+ Ke5 3.b6 Sxe4+ 4.Kh4 Sd6 5.Bxd6+ Kxd6 6.Kg5 Se7 7.b7 Kc7 8.d6+ +-

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