Para el teclado no use más de 3 metros de cable remoto. Podría ocurrir un fallo de las señales en el teclado
6-71) Modo Parámetro
Wel l , you've now completed the fi rst three tests - and hopefu l ly taken in the logic and reasoning behind each and every one of the answers. Now is the time for you to use everything that you have learnt in one final bite of the cherry. Okay, it's not as though every question is a rerun of previous ones in this book (indeed most introduce enti rely new themes). However , simi lar techniques to those that you have already seen may indeed crop up over the next 20 puzzles. If you don't feel that you have paid enough attention to the previous answers, now would be a good time to revisit them.
Whether or not you've just done as I advised , I hope you score highly in this last test because one thing is for sure, Chess Choice Challenge 2 wi I I be tougher!
Four
What is the truth in this position.'
A . With Black t o move it's a draw. However, if it's White to play, then he can win, but only if Black doesn't under
promote.
B. Whoever is to move, White is winning.
C. Whoever is to move, it's a draw.
D. Provided it's White's move he can win. Otherwise it's a draw.
E. Anything involving a promoti on to a queen should result in a win for White.
A D B D C D D D E D
Points:
Four
It's White to move. With accurate play, can he win?
A . Yes. He moves his king straight t o Black's pawn, captures it and then escapes from the a-fi le before promoting his own pawn.
B. No, because Black wi l l get to the wh ite pawn first.
C. Due to the vast number of king move permutations avai l
able, the whole situation remains rather unc lear.
D. Unfortunately not. As soon as he captures the a7-pawn, the b lack king wi l l box him in with ... �c7.
E. Yes. The white king can capture Black's a-pawn and prevent the b lack king from getting back at the same time.
A D B D co D O E D
Points:
Four
Just entering the m1dd/egame, can you suggest a plan for White?
A . 1 l:f.ab1, intending b4-b5 t o try and weaken Black's queen
side pawns.
B. 1 f 3 , with the eventual aim of creating a bigger pawn cen
tre via e3-e4.
C. 1 a4. initiating an expansion on the queenside.
D. 1 l:f.acl, seeking some action for a rook along the half-open c-pawn.
E. 1 f4 to b ind down on the key e5-outpost.
A D B D c o D O
Points:
E D
Four
It's Black to play. Who is better and why?
A . Black, because h i s three pawns wi l l prove too much o f a handful for the white king and bishop.
B. White, because whi le he can contain Black's pawns, the b lack king is outside the 'square' of his own a-pawn.
C. White, but only because he has the 'right' rook's pawn for his bishop.
D. By using an old idea of Reti's, Black is able to draw what otherwise looks l i ke a hopeless position.
E. Two pawns for a piece in an endgame sounds like a fair deal. It's pretty level.
A D B D C D D D E D
Points:
Four
With Black to play in this position, which colour do you think that the majority of top players would intuitively rather have?
A . It's an entirely subjective question because it's purely a matter of taste.
B. Black, because he already possesses a dangerous passed pawn.
C. Wh ite, because actually there is a chance that his oppo
nent could get carried away with h is own passed pawn and neg lect his defensive responsibi lities on the kingside.
D. White, because four pawns versus three pawns on one side in a rook and pawn ending is winning. With White's rook ac
tively placed behind the a-pawn, that pawn is practical ly irrelevant.
E. A top player would be happy to toss a coin, because the practical winning chances for either side are approxi
mately equal.
A D B D c o D O E D
Points:
Four
With Black to play in this opposite-coloured bishop ending, can he make a successful defence?
A. Yes, by b lockading the b-pawn with his king and al lowing his bishop to monitor the progress of White's h-pawn.
B. Yes, by moving his king over to blockade the h-pawn and leaving the bishop to stop the b-pawn from promoting.
C. Yes, by at some later point using his e-pawn as a decoy and effectively trading it for one of White's pawns.
D . Yes. Usua l ly in order t o w i n such endings, the attacker needs to have either two connected passed pawns or three iso lated passed pawns.
E. No. White has managed to create the necessary two passed pawns and Black's e-pawn wi l l be of no real incon
venience at all.
A D B D c o D O E D
Points:
Four
Suggest a move and a plan for White in this position.
A . 1 e 5 in order t o remove the knight from its key defensive post and set an attack in motion.
B. 1 f5 to pressurise the e6- and f7 -squares. If B lack re
sponds with l...e5, then he wi l l have conceded an outpost on d5.
C. 1 ne1 to protect the attacked e4-pawn and possibly threaten 2 ttJd5.
D . 1 a 4 t o attack Black's overextended queenside and to pro
voke further weaknesses in the b lack pawn structure.
E. 1 h3. A lways a useful move, this would prepare a later g2-g4.
A D B D C D D D E D
Points:
Four
With White to play, how would you assess this endgame?
A. White is a pawn up, but with such a bad bishop and no ac
cess to the b lack pawns for his king, it looks set to be a draw.
B. A pawn is a pawn! Despite other positional features appar
ent ly in Black's favour, after a hard grind, White should be able to take the ful l point.
C. White must sacrifice a pawn with 1 e4+ in order to draw.
D. It's quite horrible for White. However , he can just about defend all of his pawns and thus grovel to a draw.
E. Despite being a pawn down, the extreme good bishop ver
sus bad bishop scenario here dictates that Black should win.
A D B D C D D O E D
Points:
Four
Does the outcome of this game depend upon whose move it is?
A . No. The knight is far superior t o the two white pawns and , whoever is to move, Black should have little trouble win
ning.
B. Were the knight a bishop instead , then obviously it would be White's move. In that instance, Black would win because a bishop is superior to a knight in the endgame. As it stands, the outcome doesn't depend on who is to move.
C. Yes. Black to play is winning, but with White to play it's a draw.
D. Yes. White to play is winning, but with Black to play it's a draw.
E. No. If both sides had an extra f-pawn (say a white one on f2 and a b lack one on f7}, then Black would be winning. Un
fortunately, whoever is to move in the diagram, Black's one remaining pawn is not going to be sufficient for him to win.
A D B D c o D O E D
Points:
Four
How would you rate the move J...g5 in this position?
A . Not what the doctor ordered! It's a l l very wel l escaping the pin by the white bishop on the knight , but it can't be hea lthy to riddle the kingside with holes l i ke that.
B. Not bad. After 2 .tg3 , Black could then consider either 2 ... t:Llh5 (to win a bishop for a knight) or 2 ... g4 to force back the developed white knight.
C. Seeing that he hasn't cast led kingside yet , quite good rea l ly. For starters he could always move his queen and castle queenside, and second ly even 2 .ig3 h5 looks quite interesting.
D. It's probably reasonab le, but the straightforward 1...0-0 is more advisable.
E. It's dreadfu l , but only because of 2 t:Llxg5 hxg5 3 .txg5 with huge problems surrounding the f6-knight.
A D B D C D D O E D
Points:
Four
It's White to play. Can he win, and if so how?
A. Yes, by starting with 1 e5.
B. Yes, by starting with 1 f5.
C. Yes, by starting with 1 g5.
D. Yes, by starting with 1 h5.
E. No. He would be winning if his pawns were pushed up a rank (and Black's back a rank). However, they're too far back and , because the b lack king holds the most dominant position, White is losing.
A D B D C D D O E D
Points:
Four
Who holds the upper hand in this unbalanced endgame.'
A. White, because although Black has two pawns for the ex
change, the rook is a quite superb piece in the latter stages of a game.
B. It's fairly equal, but Black would be clearly better if his knight were a bishop.
C. Black is better and the fact that he has an extra pawn on both sides of the board means that he has excel lent win
ning chances.
D. Whether it's a bishop or a knight on c6 , it should be a draw.
E. Whoever has the advantage of the first move holds a slight edge.
A D B D C D D O E D
Points:
Four
With White to play, should he accept a proposal of a draw.'
A. Yes, because it wou ld be insulting and unethical to play on.
B. Yes, but only after testing White to see that 1 �d4 is met by l....tc8.
C. No, because 1 h6 is winning.
D. No, because 1 �f6 is winning.
E. No, because 1 b5+ is winning.
A D B D C D Points:
D O E D
Four
White to play would appear to be a fair few pieces down! What can he hope to salvage from the available discovered checks?
A . A s much as could possi b ly b e asked seeing as there is a forced checkmate!
B. Not a lot . There are one or two spite checks , but Black can escape them and then his overwhelming material advantage wi l l easi ly see him through.
C. The combination of the white rook and bishop can be seen to perform nothing short of a miracle. With a rocking to and fro motion, White can clean up almost Black's entire army and when he's finished checking , find himself a rook up.
D. White can have a bit of fun, but eventual ly he must take a draw by a perpetual check or threefold repetition.
E. An equal endgame is on the cards.
A D B D co D O
Points:
E D
Four
Black to play ...
A . . .. can only win with l...a6.
B. . .. can only win with l...a5.
C. . .. can only win with l...�c3 . D. . .. can win with l...a6 or l...�c3.
E. . .. cannot win by force, i .e. White would need to make a mistake in order to lose.
A D B D C D D D E D
Points:
Four
Ordinarily a rook would have no trouble stopping a passed pawn, but here it seems to have found itself on rather an awkward square. Is Black to play able to save the game?
A . Yes. He can al low White t o get a new queen whi lst setting up a fortress with his king and rook in the corner.
B. Yes, because he is simply able to concede his rook for the f-pawn.
C. Yes, because when the checks look l i ke drying up, he is able to use a skewer to capture anything that White might choose to promote to.
D. Yes, but only after a complex sequence of moves in which he is able to sacrifice his rook for stalemate.
E. No. B lack has some tricks to try and get the draw, but White can be equally devious in order to guarantee victory.
A D B D c o D O E D
Points:
Four
White to move is a whole piece up, but can he successfully con
vert this substantial material advantage?
A. Yes. He can force the black king into the corner and then manoeuvre his knight around to deliver a smothered mate.
B. Yes, but he wi l l have to offload his knight for nothing in order to do so.
C. Yes. By eventual ly playing lt::lxb7, giving up his knight for the pawn, White wi l l enter a winning king and pawn versus king situation.
D. No, the looming danger of stalemate makes it impossible for White to make any significant progress.
E. Only if his knight was in fact a bishop.
A D B D C D D O
Points:
E D
Four
In this position, Block has managed to cut off the white king from reaching his b-pawn. How should he continue.'
A. With the immediate l...b2 , before White's king makes it across.
B. With l....l:.c4 . maintaining a barrier to the white king.
C. With l....i:t.xcl 2 �xcl �c5. obtaining the distant opposi
tion.
D. By switching his rook to an alternative site of activity.
l...J:h8, preparing to check from the side, fulfi ls just that role.
E. By f l icking in an awkward check with 1....l:.d8+.
A D B D C D D O E D
Points:
Four
Often there isn't much to choose between two or more moves and the decision to play one rather than another is simply down to taste. One common controversy is the trade of a bishop for a knight. In which of these diagrams is the suggested swap clearly a positional inaccuracy?
1) 1 .txf6
3 ) 1 .txc6 A. Only no. l.
c. Nos. 1, 2 and 4.
E. None of them.
A D B D
Points: ...... ... . ... . .
C D
2) l...i.xf3
4) 1 .txf6
B. Nos. 1 and 2 . D : A l l of them.
D O E D
Four
Can White to play win this king and pawn endgame?
A . Y es , b y 1 ..t>c6 and then 2 d7+.
B. Yes , by t he pawn sacrifice 1 d7 ..t>xd7 2 �d5.
C. Yes , by triangulating his king.
D. No, because the presence of a second (doubled) black f
pawn makes it i mpossible for him to infi ltrate with his king.
E. Win? He could count himself lucky to draw!
A D B D C D D O E D
Points: