another chess problem

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 1 - 78 of total 78 in this topic

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 14, 2011 - 04:04pm PT

I've shown you three problems, not real difficult
to solve, but with some after-play and complications...

Here's another problem that might be about a four to five
minute problem. Shouldn't take much longer than that to
solve. But this one was hard to compose.

White pieces:
pawns: b2, e6,
knights: a6, c4
rooks: a8, f3
bishop at f1
queen at e3
king g5

Black pieces:
pawns: a7, b6, b3, g6
king: b5

white to move and mate in two

nutjob

Gym climber

Berkeley, CA

Mar 14, 2011 - 04:11pm PT

For us folks who are too dumb to create a graphical layout in our head from the notation, or too lazy to get out a board, is there an easy way to represent this in ascii? Maybe an 8x8 character grid with letters to represent each piece? Or draw it and scan it and post a pic?

John Moosie

climber

Beautiful California

Mar 14, 2011 - 05:25pm PT

Thanks Pat. This is getting fun. I'm even thinking about getting a board. I haven't played regularly in more then 15 years. I played my nephew this past Christmas and he beat me 2 out of 3. It should have been the other way, but I got careless after getting his queen for my bishop.

I'm with nutjob. I need a board or a picture because I just can't see problems in my head anymore. Too many years of poor health and not playing. My brain has atrophied and I don't have enough spunk left to try to retrain it.

seth kovar

climber

Reno, NV

Mar 14, 2011 - 05:27pm PT

If you sign in to chess.com you can create whatever situation you want...

jsb

Trad climber

Bay area

Mar 14, 2011 - 05:29pm PT

Thanks, Pat!

eliot carlsen

Social climber

San Diego

Mar 14, 2011 - 05:38pm PT

nice! thanks jsb! i think i finally know the answer to one...

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2011 - 12:45am PT

Thanks, jsb, you are the designated man to put up
the board for future problems. Ok?

guido

Trad climber

Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific

Mar 15, 2011 - 01:01am PT

Can I play? Oh wait you said chess!

marv

Mountain climber

Bay Area

Mar 15, 2011 - 01:08am PT

I'll take the pair at A3 (or is it 38DD?)

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 01:40am PT

I can get mate in three but I'm not seeing two.

damo62

Social climber

Brisbane

Mar 15, 2011 - 02:33am PT

qkXqkp

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 02:38am PT

Not understanding your notation there.

madbolter1

Big Wall climber

Walla Walla, WA

Mar 15, 2011 - 02:56am PT

Lower-right white knight takes the pawn directly north of black king. Check from white bishop.

Black king can now move to either black square west or south. No other moves are available.

In either case, white queen moves west to black square just east of the black pawn. Mate.

Good one. Fun.

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 03:21am PT

Black king can now move to either black square west or south. No other moves are available.

I dont think this is right. If lower right knight takes that pawn, black king can move to white square north east (c6) and from there I don't see a check mate in only one additional move.

I was thinking knight c6 to e5, forcing black king to a5 or a4....but from there I cant mate in a single move....it takes one more.

eliot carlsen

Social climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 03:24am PT

Hint: don't look if you don't want a hint...

look for a queen move...

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2011 - 03:29am PT

everyone wrong so far...

jsb

Trad climber

Bay area

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:07am PT

Sounds like a deal to me, especially for such quality problems.

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:08am PT

Here's another problem that might be about a four to five
minute problem. Shouldn't take much longer than that to
solve.

Yea right!...I'm going on an hour and I consider myself a decent chess player.....I'll be pissed if its not solvable in two white moves. And those giant racks aren't helping me concentrate.

Eliot, this is Colin. Next time we see each other we should have a chess set around. Sounds like I'll get my ass kicked but I'm always down to play a game.

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:37am PT

Got it. Queen e4, black king forced to move a4....queen C6 mate.

EDIT: FAIL

jsb

Trad climber

Bay area

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:48am PT

Nope. If you move Qe4, the black king will take the knight on a6 and you won't be able to mate on b6 anymore. :)

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:51am PT

You're right....I'm calling it a night. Im glad someone else if working it too.

jsb

Trad climber

Bay area

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:53am PT

I solved it in 5 minutes. But that also means I have played far too much chess. That time would have been much better spent playing outside. It's definitely a tricky one. :)

eliot carlsen

Social climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:55am PT

For sure Colin! I'm always down to play. I used to play a lot more but haven't in a while. These threads have definitely given me the inspiration to start studying the game again.

Isn't the answer Qd2?

Edit: Actually I just saw the error in that move...Kxa6 2.Nd6+ b5

madbolter1

Big Wall climber

Walla Walla, WA

Mar 15, 2011 - 12:55pm PT

Yup, got me. My "solution" isn't one. The King can indeed escape to the northeast. I was seeing that rook as a bishop in my early-morning "mind's eye."

Hmm... a five-minute solution, huh? Guess I haven't played enough.

Still fun... I'm going to look at it again tonight.

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 01:43pm PT

If rook takes A7, king could move C6. Then if Queen takes B6, king could move D5.

thetennisguy

Mountain climber

Yuba City, CA

Mar 15, 2011 - 01:54pm PT

1. Bg2 ... white mates next move

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2011 - 02:36pm PT

Some nice tries, such as r x a7, but the queen, as has
been noted makes it out through d5 after moving first to c6.

Yes the answer is Bishop to g2, a nice unlikely move.

The themse of the problem, which to discover is part of
problem solving and composition is to give the king
a full four move spectrum. Any of those four moves
end in mate.

OK.
Here's another jsb.

White pieces:
pawns at e6, f3
knights at b5 and e1
rook at d2
bishop at g3
king at c1
queen at c7

black pieces:
pawns at d3, e4, e7
knight at d6
bishops at a7 and b7
king at e3

White to move and mate in two

This is about a four minute problem, although
the complications after the solution will take
a small bit to notice all of them (big hint).

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 02:47pm PT

Ok, Im still not seen it.

So if Bishop moves G2, black king has three options. It can move can move A4 (resulting in Queen taking pawn A3 checkmate, or it can move C6, or it can take knight C4 (White rook moves F4, resulting in checkmate(....

So the second case, King C6 is the only option, but I don't see a checkmate in one move.....Can someone fill me in?

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 02:54pm PT

Hey Friend,

So if White rook takes A7, Black king can move C6 or A4. A4 will result in a checkmate by moving queen C3, so the best option is moving King C6. But from there I don't see a checkmate in only one more move. For example, if rook is moved C7, king can move back to B5 resulting in more than just two moves....

Its that C6 move that keeps checkmate in in two moves from happening.

eliot carlsen

Social climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 03:06pm PT

Friend, that rook move looks good but it won't produce mate in two when the king moves to c6
For example: 1.Rxa7 Kc6 2.Qxb6+ Kd5 or... 2.Qe5 as suggested doesn't give check when the king is at c6

As far as the answer goes...1.Bg2 Ka4 2.Qxb3++ or 1...Kxa6 2.Qxb6++ (clever pinned mate) or 1...Kc6 2. Rf5++ (discovered) lastly 1...Kxc4 2.Qd3++

Very nice problem. Pretty complicated with four possible moves for the King. I better stick with the "30 second" problems.

HAHA, very nice Friend! A future Grandmaster there!

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 15, 2011 - 03:18pm PT

1...Kc6 2. Rf5++

At this point, king is not in check? Black pawn can also take Rook at F5 (EDIT): Got it now, king is in check from bishop....but king could still move back to B5? (EDIT AGAIN): Thats it....well done : )

Thats great picture Friend. My Dad also taught me to play.

nutjob

Gym climber

Berkeley, CA

Mar 15, 2011 - 03:33pm PT

I gave up in disgust after about 3-4 minutes the first time I looked at the Pat's Puzzle #1... I'm too impatient to methodically go through the permutations to find which one works.

But I just gave it a second look at figured it out within about 5 minutes. Pretty interesting problem to find the solution in 2 moves.

That said, the overall the situation is contrived, because there are many thuggish solutions that can take more than 2 moves, and just about anyone who knows the basic rules of chess would win if placed in the white position.

I liked the problems in an old Bobby Fischer book, taken from his real games, where they had a graphical layout and you needed to find the mate in 4 moves, and if you couldn't keep control (i.e. checking the guy and forcing his move) the opponent's next move would force all your moves until you were mated.

Pat, maybe you can modify this layout so there is some looming threat against white to make the 2-move solution and keeping control more urgent? For example, add a black pawn at f7, a black rook at h2 and black queen at h7.

nutjob

Gym climber

Berkeley, CA

Mar 15, 2011 - 03:37pm PT

Ha, I got #2 in about 20 seconds, with another few minutes to make sure there were no escapes. Shaking the rust off.... But I'm pretty sure I would be completely destroyed in a real game with most of the chess players around here.

And take Puzzle#2, add black queen at f6, and move black's light-square bishop to f1. This would be just to create some urgency for white's solution.

I had a friend who grew up in the same town as Gary Kasparov where chess was pretty big, and this friend studied (not just played) chess for hours every day after school. It opened my eyes to how much practice it takes to memorize openings and responses and have that basic database to build on, separate from whatever knowledge of principles and tactics and strategy. This guy could have arguments on the phone and seemingly not pay attention to our game, and point out my mistaken move before I took my finger off the piece. It was all just automatic for him, not even getting into situations where he had to think. It was humbling, and I learned a lot quickly, and still was so far behind.

It's sort of like improving in climbing from 5.7 to 5.10, and gaining more of an appreciation (but still not really getting it) for what it means to be a 5.12 or 5.14 climber.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2011 - 03:55pm PT

People tell me they got the solution, then I find out they
didn't, only thought they did. But the commentary about
problems being contrived.... that's an old gripe and doesn't
mean anything to real problem composers. It's like saying
Picasso is contrived and weird, and nothing like that would
happen in real life. Ho hum. The grandmaster
composers don't care about contrived, since there are millions
of possible situations in chess, and anything is possible.
It's only inexperience that suggests something is contrived.
And just because there are ten mates in three on the board,
or because the black pieces are outnumbered greatly, it still
remains that there is a correct move to be seen. You wouldn't
believe some of the situations that arise in chess. You'd
never believe they could have been possible. So that's not
a valid argument. If you don't like problems, don't look
at them. More important is, did the composer use
proper economy, was there a theme, how do the variations work,
etc. Difficulty is far down on the list of importance, as long
as the solution isn't obvious. To complain about contrived
is, if I may be so crass as to say so, a reflection of ability
level. Real chess players love problems, and often the more
contrived the better. I personally don't care for the
the bizarre problems, such as mate in twenty or
take back your last move and mate in four, and weird things
such as that. I prefer the simplicity of two and three move mates.
The test is to see the situation and find the moves, not just
the solution but the complications and themes. When someone
above says, "the rook at f5 can be taken by the pawn," well you
have to be at last good enough to see that when the rook moves
it is revealing check with the bishop, and mate comes before the
rook could be captured. Some of you aren't even seeing all the
possible king moves and then don't deliver mate at the right spot,
and so forth. That, I suppose, is the joy and beauty of it, to
be accurate, to see deeper, see the subtleties,
to find the art, to express it.

nutjob

Gym climber

Berkeley, CA

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:14pm PT

Hi Pat, please don't take my feedback as an affront. The problems themselves are interesting, and I know without a doubt you are a much better chess player than I am.

I'm just expressing an opinion about what makes a problem interesting. For me, the idea of "you better figure this out in X moves or you're toast" adds something to a problem, as a separate layer from finding the moves. Maybe it's like the difference between a climb where the easiest way is 5.10 versus a 5.3 gulley with a 5.10 eliminate variation.

Maybe you're right that advanced players recognize that any situation can have a few pieces added to increase the sense of urgency, so it's frivolous stuff on the board that distracts from the pith of the problem. But I still like seeing it there.

And I'll keep trying your problems however you decide to make them :)

John Moosie

climber

Beautiful California

Mar 15, 2011 - 04:19pm PT

BG2.. didn't see that haha.. Thanks Pat, for the problem. And thanks JSB for posting the board.

jsb

Trad climber

Bay area

Mar 15, 2011 - 06:03pm PT

Pat, these problems keep getting better and better! I like how the last one slowly unraveled to me as I started to understand the predicament better. I don't know how the hell you came up with it. :)

I have to agree that it's not really about difficulty... it's more about how inventive or clever the problems are. Actually, in my opinion, there doesn't even exist a 2-mate problem that can be considered "hard," and if the above problems were boulders they'd be about V2 - doable by someone who has practiced a bit, but seemingly impossible to a layman.

You should compile these into a book!

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2011 - 08:37pm PT

No problem should have anything there that
has no purpose. Usually everything serves some
purpose, even if but merely to prevent a cook (alternate
solution).

I have composed about four hundred problems and have
put them into a little book unpublished. Six or seven
of my problems have been in grandmaster columns. I had
a group of them published once in the student paper
of the University of Colorado... Just tons of time
"wasted," sort of. But it made me a stronger player,
ultimately, as I often found some problem-esque move,
the hidden move (as is the title of my little book).

Ready for another?
Here is another three or four minute problem:

white pieces:
pawns at c6 and e6
knights at b2 and f2
rooks at c4 and e4
bishop at g6
queen at d8
king at a6

black pieces:
pawns at c5, d6, d7, e5
king at d5

white to move and mate in two
themes

Think of it this way, if you don't like black being outnumbered.
He has played for time and has ten minutes left on his clock.
Though he is hopelessly lost, if he can stall, well white has
only two minutes on his clock.... So white has to pull out a
miracle.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 15, 2011 - 08:44pm PT

jsb, yes there are some really difficult mates in two. Some
of the old classical composers were masterful at creating
problems... But in general you're right. An expert can see
the solution usually in a matter of minutes. There was a big
problem competition once at the University of Colorado. About
sixty people showed up to compete, and I was more or less
just starting chess. I had been working with Eugene Salome,
the former chess champion of Germany and who played with
Bobby Fischer on the Manhatten Chess Club. He invited me
to compete, and to everyone's surprise, mine most of all,
I won first prize. That was when I became interested in
problems.

marv

Mountain climber

Bay Area

Mar 15, 2011 - 11:25pm PT

given the size of the strategy space, one can make a two-move mate problem arbitrarily hard.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 16, 2011 - 12:54am PT

huh?

murcy

Gym climber

sanfrancisco

Mar 16, 2011 - 01:02am PT

Cool puzzles, thanks!

Nutjob got #2 in 20 seconds?? Care to share?

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 16, 2011 - 01:03am PT

yes, the answer?

murcy

Gym climber

sanfrancisco

Mar 16, 2011 - 01:12am PT

Is it rook to f2, then stuff with the knight or queen, depending?

jsb

Trad climber

Bay area

Mar 16, 2011 - 03:44am PT

Okay, so here's where we are now...

All problems from both threads listed below.
Solutions listed below that.

!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!

Remove the 9's and i's to see the answers:
Solution #1, 9ig9i19ia9i79i
Solution #2, 9if9i59id9i49i
Solution #3, 9if9i19ig9i29i
Solution #4, 9ib9i59ic9i39i
Solution #5, 9if9i29id9i39i

murcy

Gym climber

sanfrancisco

Mar 16, 2011 - 10:08am PT

Thanks, jsb, that's really helpful to see them visually. I was talking about what you're now calling #4. After your suggested first move, suppose black does king to d4? [Edit: thanks, Pat, right you are!]

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 16, 2011 - 03:14pm PT

murcy, the knight at the bottom delivers mate.
The pawn can't capture it, because it's pinned
by the rook.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 16, 2011 - 03:16pm PT

jsb, the only problem you're missing is the first one from
the first thread, which is one of the better ones really.
But thanks for all your effort. Allows people to visualize.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 16, 2011 - 03:22pm PT

Here's yet one more:

White pieces:
knight at a3
pawn at b4
bishops at b7 and h2
king at g5
rook at e2
queeen at e1

black pieces:
pawns at b5, d3, e3
knight at d5
king at d4

white to move and mate in two
(two minute problem)

John Moosie

climber

Beautiful California

Mar 16, 2011 - 03:31pm PT

Just saw #1. haha.. that one cracked me up. Brilliant and fun.

hb81

climber

Mar 16, 2011 - 04:05pm PT

well, the two minute problem took me about 15 minutes but I did get it...

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 02:45am PT

send me an email with the answer, and I'll let you know
if you're right.

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 17, 2011 - 03:06am PT

Let me know if there are any errors.

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 17, 2011 - 03:27am PT

RE2XE3....Black has two moves.

move pawn D2 or Knight D5XE3.

If Knight D5XE3, white moves QA1++

If black moves Pawn D2, white moves Bishop E5++ ?

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 17, 2011 - 03:59am PT

Here's an easy/medium problem...

Black to move and checkmate in four

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 05:19am PT

Port, nice try, but what happens after the white knight
takes the white pawn at b4?

and your problem? Is this a "creation" of yours?
show me the mate in 4

hb81

climber

Mar 17, 2011 - 06:30am PT

Port, nice try, but what happens after the white(black) knight
takes the white pawn at b4?

hahaha, there goes my "solution". Missed that one.

hb81

climber

Mar 17, 2011 - 06:39am PT

Uhm patrick... are you sure the setup is correct for the last one?
I just put this into an engine and the best it came up with is a forced mate in 4?!

mate in 4 moves 1. Qh4+ Kc3 2. Nb1+ Kb3 3. Bxd5+ Ka4 4. Ra2#

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 02:20pm PT

I'm smarter than any engine, haha

surprised jsb hasn't solved it yet.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 02:23pm PT

I would imagine there are a few mates in three,
as well, but they don't count. Some of the programs
just look at the obvious, practical moves. They're
not about to do something radical, unless they clearly
see the analysis... big hint.

Port

Trad climber

San Diego

Mar 17, 2011 - 02:24pm PT

You got me....good one. Ill keep working on it.

Heres the solution I came up with to the problem I posted.

QXD5....white must then take with Bishop or move QE4, or QF3 to block an immediate checkmate.

IF BXD5...then black moves bishop D5

If Qf4/QE4, then black takes with queen. White bishop must respond with BXFE4/F3.....

Black then takes with Bishop f4 or e3........checkmate with rook h1.

If white BXD5, then black BXD5.....checkmate can be delayed by moving queen F4 or E3.

Makes sense? I hope there aren't any errors but let me know.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 02:33pm PT

Your idea is ok, but it's not a mate in four, sorry.
Bishop can go to H6, for example.
But this is not a problem. This is simply a position,
a "combination." Real problems have to follow the
guidelines for problems, namely economy (nothing on the
board that does not serve a purpose), etc. True, some people
will prefer these kinds of positional studies, and
there's nothing wrong with them, but they're not
problems in the classical definition. Fischer's little
book is a series of positional studies with mating
outcomes, and those can be fun, can test one's ability...

hb81

climber

Mar 17, 2011 - 02:48pm PT

Well I did find it finally... 2 minute problem, eh? :D

murcy

Gym climber

sanfrancisco

Mar 17, 2011 - 02:53pm PT

Sent an email with a guess about Pat's last problem.

These are very hard for me. I've never played chess, though more than it took to learn the piece-rules (I never quite figured out "en passant", castling, etc.). Embarking on a regular game of chess always felt like being at sea without a map. But this seems much better---it's only a pond.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 08:59pm PT

hey jsb, where are you? Must have lost you.

jsb

Trad climber

Bay area

Mar 17, 2011 - 09:33pm PT

Hey guys,
Still around. :) Just a little preoccupied lately and haven't had a chance to look at the new problem. Hopefully later tonight. Any solutions yet?

justin

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 11:21pm PT

I've received a couple of right answers on this last one.
The question always remains, if the variations are seen
as well, those variations that follow. Sometimes we guess
but don't know what really goes on... I trust you, though...

Here's what is called a "miniature."
Seven pieces at most.

White pieces:
bishops at d6 and g4
rook at c3
king at g3

black pieces:
pawns at d2 and e2
king at d1

White to move and mate in two
(about a one minute problem, maybe two)

and here is another cute little thing:

White pieces:
pawns at a6 and e6
knight at d5
rook at h6
queen at h8
king at g6

Black pieces:
pawns at b5, c6, e7, f6
knight at a7
bishop c8
rook at a8
king at b8

white to move and mate in two
(about a two minute problem)

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 17, 2011 - 11:25pm PT

Finally, here is an end-game study:

White pieces:
rooks at c2 and e2
king at h3

black pieces:
pawns at a3, b2, d4
bishop c3
knight f1
king g1

White to move and draw. Black is way ahead in material,
in that he is about to promote a pawn to a queen. White
must pull off a little miracle.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2011 - 04:49pm PT

I guess people are done with the chess for now...
Surprising how little interest there was.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2011 - 05:34pm PT

I'm not saying anything against anyone, especially those
who took an interest. I just thought there were more
chess enthusiasts among the climbers.

del, your answer for the miniature isn't right. Isn't
even a piece on the square of the piece you say moves...

murcy

Gym climber

sanfrancisco

Mar 18, 2011 - 07:34pm PT

I very much appreciate the thought & effort behind these. Thanks! I'll work on the newest ones when I get a chance & have a board (physical or virtual) to move pieces around on.

Patrick Oliver

Boulder climber

Fruita, Colorado

Topic Author's Reply - Mar 18, 2011 - 10:45pm PT

del. yes you got it, but use the key that conceals the
answer so others can work on it

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 5, 2011 - 12:38pm PT

Today's LA Times:

At age 10, chess master is already an old pro

Sam Sevian holds the title of youngest U.S. chess master — for now. The average age of chess masters has been steadily falling for years, but recently, that pace has quickened.

By Scott Kraft, Los Angeles Times

May 5, 2011
Reporting from Santa Clara, Calif. -- The two chess masters hunched over their royal armies, lost in thought.

On one side, playing white, was 10-year-old Sam Sevian, who a few months ago became the youngest chess master in the history of the U.S. Chess Federation.

His opponent, playing black, was David Adelberg, 14, who had been crowned Arizona's youngest chess master when he was 12.

Sam had lost a match to David two years earlier. This time, he vowed, would be different.

The windowless hotel meeting room in Agoura Hills, filled with dozens of players, was as silent as a church sanctuary.

Sam and David came out playing the Scheveningen variation of the Sicilian defense, a favorite of the grandmaster Garry Kasparov, one of their idols.

As the match entered its fourth hour, Sam decided to stir things up. For 40 minutes, he studied his position, brown sneakers suspended above the carpet, fists pressed against his chestnut-colored hair, lips moving silently.

Finally, Sam made his move: a bishop sacrifice.

Sam's father, Armen, smelling of the cigarette he'd smoked on the balcony, caught his son's eye with an expression that silently asked: How's it going? Sam shrugged his shoulders and raised his palms: Who knows?

But Sam's chess coach, standing nearby, watched with a small smile of satisfaction. "What he's doing is very complicated, very complicated," he said. "But it might work."

::

The title of chess master is awarded to players who reach a threshold of points, earned in official tournament competition and based on their performance as well as the strength of their opponents.

The average age of chess masters has been steadily falling for years, but recently, that pace has quickened. To win a tournament in Reno last year, Jesse Kraai, a 28-year-old grandmaster from the Bay Area, played four of his six matches against children; the average age was 13.

"Today, you have 7- and 8-year-olds who are training better than Bobby Fischer did a generation before," said David Pruess, content manager for chess.com, a global chess website with 3 million members. He holds the international master ranking, one step higher than master and one below grandmaster.

This bounty of prodigal talent has had an unintended side effect: The half-life of a newly minted chess star has shrunk "to a year or two, tops," said Pruess, 29. "It's easy for a kid on his way up, full of confidence bordering on arrogance, to forget that he's become a target for even younger players."

Pruess, in a column last year, detailed his own loss to David Adelberg and good-naturedly warned the youngster that he'd better start preparing "for the 10-year-olds who will soon be coming to get him!"

That was prescient. Young David's nemesis turned out to be Sam Sevian, a fourth-grader from Santa Clara who, in December, became a chess master at the age of 9 years, 11 months and 11 days.

(Sam followed in the footsteps of Fischer, who earned the title of youngest chess master in 1956, at the age of 13 years, 3 months and 29 days.)

Sam is the pre-pubescent embodiment of the single-minded passion for chess that H.G. Wells once described as "a desire that dieth not, and a fire that is not quenched."

He lives with his obsession, and his parents and younger sister, in a modest two-bedroom condominium near San Jose International Airport.

A professional chess board sits on the coffee table in the small living room; chess books, in English and Russian, are stacked on the side tables.

Sam and Isabelle, 8, share a bedroom with three single beds; one is for their grandmother, who often visits from Armenia.

He keeps his favorite inspirational reading material on the bedside table: the fantasy adventure series "Percy Jackson & the Olympians," which features a 12-year-old demigod on a journey to prevent apocalyptic wars between three Greek gods.

In some ways, Sam is a typical kid. He rides his bike inside the gated condo complex and watches television when his parents allow it. ("Two and a Half Men" is a favorite).

Most afternoons, though, are devoted to homework and chess. "I never get tired of playing chess," he said, "but I do get tired of studying it."

One afternoon before his rematch with David, Sam arrived home from school and immediately went into his parents' bedroom, where he sat down at the family computer. He logged onto a chess website, looking to challenge someone to a game of blitz chess.

In an official chess match, each player is allowed a set number of hours to make all his moves and six-hour games are not uncommon.

In blitz chess, each player gets three to five minutes. Blitz chess games aren't official, but many players use them to hone their skills.

A 57-year-old international master from Serbia accepted Sam's invitation.

Swiftly moving the pieces with his computer mouse, Sam finished off his opponent like an afternoon snack. "That felt good," he said.

Later, Sam logged onto a laptop on the kitchen table for a lesson, over Skype, with his coach, Andranik Matikozyan, 32, an international master who lives in Los Angeles.

They practiced opening moves and went over exercises to prepare for the tournament.

Sam's father, Armen, 39, is a physicist with a doctorate from the University of North Carolina who works at a Silicon Valley company that makes lasers.

He grew up in Armenia, where chess is a closely followed sport, and was himself a strong player as a youngster.

Not so long ago, Sam and his father would spend evenings playing chess. No more.

"I don't want to waste his time," Armen Sevian said with a laugh.

Sam was born in New York, and the family followed his father's job changes to Florida, Los Angeles and, three years ago, to Santa Clara.

When Sam was 5, his father introduced him to the game.

"Most kids just move the pieces quickly," Sevian said. "But Sam really studied the board. From the first moment I watched him play, I thought, 'there you go.' "

When Sam was 7, and playing a tournament in Santa Monica, he met Matikozyan. "I was amazed at how he was thinking 10, 15 moves ahead," the coach said.

This summer, Sam has been invited to a two-day master class with Kasparov in New York.

In the fall, his father plans to take him to Brazil for the World Youth Championships, sponsored by the World Chess Federation.

If Sam does well, he will earn more points toward his next goal, becoming an international master.

His mother, Armine, worries that her son sometimes spends too much time playing chess.

"The thing is, though, he likes to play," she said. "Even in his free time, he goes to the computer and plays. I don't know … he's not like other children."

::

Sam and his father made the drive on a Friday in March from their Bay Area home to the Agoura Hills Renaissance Hotel for the three-day Western Class Championships, a U.S. Chess Federation-sanctioned tournament on the professional circuit.

The field included about a dozen masters such as Sam, seven international masters and one grandmaster, the top chess rating, held by about 1,300 players worldwide. Also on hand were an army of less-accomplished players who aspire to become masters.

The first night, Sam played an international master to a draw, the match ending just before midnight.

He slept nine hours in his hotel room, ate breakfast with his father and returned to the tables for the Saturday morning match with David Adelberg.

Their match seesawed back and forth for several hours and seemed headed for a draw. But then Sam began introducing complications, the first of which was the move to sacrifice a bishop. David recognized it was a trap and declined to take it.

Soon David made a small slip in defending his position, and Sam responded with an additional flurry of sacrificial moves, forcing David to part with his queen to avoid being checkmated.

After five more anguished moves, only a few minutes remained on each boy's clock. David grimly studied the board as the seconds ticked away.

Finally, he turned his king on its side and reached across the board to shake Sam's hand.

"Neither Andranik nor I really understood what he was up to at the time," Sam's father would say later. "When he showed us, we realized it was really a series of beautiful tactical combinations."

David's father, Dan Adelberg, an eye surgeon from Scottsdale, Ariz., later ascribed the loss to "one miscalculation, which certainly happens in many chess games."

In the hotel lobby, a few of Sam's young chess friends came by to offer congratulations.

"What do you want to do now?" his father said, suggesting they go to a nearby restaurant for buffalo wings and talk over the match.

Sam gave a thumbs-up sign.

scott.kraft@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

"I don't know … he's not like other children." - his mom

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Jul 1, 2011 - 08:33pm PT

I think I won! LOL - he was higher rated than me so it is ok to gloat on the internet.
Besides, I erased his handle.

Gary

Social climber

From A Buick 6

Apr 27, 2015 - 10:33am PT

The Glory Days of USA chess.
[Click to View YouTube Video]

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber

Toquerville, Utah

Apr 27, 2015 - 12:13pm PT

Looking at the original problem;

if you move B to g2 then the King takes knight at C4 and, though it is easy to check, it still can't be mated with the next move.