I finally reached my destination and arrived in Moscow. The flight went very well and I liked flying with Delta Airlines.
At the airport I bought the September issue of the Russian "Vogue" magazine and found there an article about me. They made a very unusual choice of photos but I liked the article which is the most important thing for me. I scanned the article for you so you can read it (if you know Russian, of course):) Click on the small image below to see the full article.
What do you think is the first thing I do after arriving home? The answer is obvious: I check my emails, new tweets and my facebook page of course! So I get very disappointed when there is no internet! Luckily today everything worked fine and I received lots of interesting emails.
Andreas sent me a few puzzles for my blog and here is one of them. Once in a while I will post his puzzles to keep your mind busy:)
This is the position from the game Menchik, Vera - Graf, Sonja (Wch (Women) Semmering, 1937). It's White to move.Tomorrow I'm going for a week to a chess training session close to Moscow and I hope I will be able to get connected on-line there.
Posted by: Alexandra Kosteniuk
Women's World Chess Champion
www.chessblog.com
very simple 1.Qxh5 and winning for white
ReplyDeleteSo...what was in the cup? ;-)
ReplyDeleteNothing, it was just for the photo :-)
ReplyDeleteTo rajib roy...
ReplyDelete1.Qh5? is not so goog because of :
1....Qxh2+!
2.Qxh2 Nxh2
3.Nxe6 Nxf1
4.Nxf8 Bxf8
5.Kxf1 and white has a small advantage.
Pharaoh
I think 1.Rd7! is the Good MOve.
ReplyDelete1..Qd7
2.Qh5!! Qh2+
3.Qh2 Nh2
4.Re7 Nf1
5.Rb7 +-
One Piece Up ...
Also Possible Bg6!! sacrifice
Mr. Rocks
Mr Rocks, agreed with 1.Rd7! as the best move.
ReplyDeleteHowever,
1.Bg6? doesn't work b/c of :
1...fxg6
2.Nxe6 Qc6
3.Nxf8 Rxf8 and Black is fine.
I think 1. Rd7!! is the solution too but what happens after 1... Qd7x 2. 2. Qh5x!! , Bg5x?
ReplyDeleteAs for Qxh5 Black stays even by
ReplyDelete1. Qxh5 Qxh2+
2. Qxh2 Nxh2
3. Kxh2 Bxg5
Pharaoh
On your line what about.
1.Qh5? is not so good because of :
1....Qxh2+!
2.Qxh2 Nxh2
3.Nxe6 Nxf1
4.Nxf8 Ne3 instead of Bxf8
then if
5. fxe3 Bxf8 and the pawn structure of White is worse.
To anonymous 2:25 :
ReplyDeleteAfter,
1.Rd7! Qxd7
2.Qxh5!! Bxg5 then simply
3.Qh8 checkmate!
Actually if black takes,
1...Qxd7 then white forces mate.
To William...
ReplyDelete''4.Nxf8 Ne3 instead of Bxf8
then if
5. fxe3 Bxf8 and the pawn structure of White is worse.''
White is a Pawn up in both cases with some advantage.
if white play1. Rd7 the possible continuation will be for black
ReplyDelete1... Bg2 2.Rxc7 Bxh3(another variation 2.Qxh5 Qxh2 3.Qxh2 Nxh2) .......the out come -"black is one night or bishop down " and if white play 1.Qxg5 the black will lose one night but white can save one pawn .so in my point of view Qxh5 is good move
What's wrong with Nxe6? A strong attack can be mounted against the exposed black king with two dominant diagonals controlled by white. What does black have besides some calming of the waters with a queen exchange on h2 which will leave black down the exchange with at least one more pawn loss?
ReplyDeleteQxh5 will not work at all.
1.Nxe6 is good but 1.Rd7 is much better.
ReplyDeleteQxh5 seems to allow black the chance to equalize after exchanging. After reviewing Rd7 it seems that would be a stronger position for white; kind of seems like closing the vice grips on black a little more, leaving black with less options to equal material or tempo. So I would agree with the others Qxh5 seems = but white +-
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr Rocks and think 1.Rd7 is the best move...
ReplyDeleteif 1... Qxd7 2.Qxh5
a)if 2... Nf6 3.Bxf6 Bxf6 4.Qh7++
b)if 2... Bxg5 3.Qh8++
To rajib:
if 1... Bxg2 2.Kxg2 and black no has a good move...
if 2... Qc6 3.Kg1 and (if Knight move 4.Rxf7, followed by 5.Qxh5, etc...), if other move then 4.Qxh5 and black only has 4... Nf6 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.Qh7++.
my thought-process was like this: Oh, that's simple! Qxh5 because of the awesome bishops. Then I went: Oh, but black can reply qxh2+ and destroy the attack. Next thought was: I must deflect blacks queen and I arrived at Rd7 fairly quick. Know, as I see it, black must change queens with Qxh2+ to avoid either checkmate or the queenloss for nothing. After white plays Qxh2, Nxh2, Kxh2 blacks bishops is forked by the rook and I cannot see how black can defend them both. If I am correct the answer is [b] 1. Rd7!, Qxh2+ 2. Qxh2, Nxh2 3. Kxh2, [/b] and black will be two pieces up because of the fork. I got a little concerned about black throwing in the in-between move 2. Bxg2 but I think that white can calmly reply with Kxg2
ReplyDelete