CHESS NEWS BLOG: chessblog.com

USA's Top Daily Chess News Blog, Informative, Fun, and Positive

hosted by Chess Queen™ & 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk

 

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Moscow and Vogue 09-09

Hello everybody!

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

Labels: ,

16 Comments:

  • At August 21, 2009 at 12:35 PM , Anonymous rajib roy said...

    very simple 1.Qxh5 and winning for white

     
  • At August 21, 2009 at 5:04 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    So...what was in the cup? ;-)

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 12:19 AM , Blogger Alexandra Kosteniuk said...

    Nothing, it was just for the photo :-)

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 2:45 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    To rajib roy...

    1.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

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 3:18 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I think 1.Rd7! is the Good MOve.
    1..Qd7
    2.Qh5!! Qh2+
    3.Qh2 Nh2
    4.Re7 Nf1
    5.Rb7 +-

    One Piece Up ...
    Also Possible Bg6!! sacrifice

    Mr. Rocks

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 4:12 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Mr Rocks, agreed with 1.Rd7! as the best move.

    However,

    1.Bg6? doesn't work b/c of :
    1...fxg6
    2.Nxe6 Qc6
    3.Nxf8 Rxf8 and Black is fine.

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 5:25 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    I think 1. Rd7!! is the solution too but what happens after 1... Qd7x 2. 2. Qh5x!! , Bg5x?

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 8:19 AM , Anonymous William said...

    As for Qxh5 Black stays even by
    1. 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.

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 8:44 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    To anonymous 2:25 :
    After,
    1.Rd7! Qxd7
    2.Qxh5!! Bxg5 then simply
    3.Qh8 checkmate!

    Actually if black takes,
    1...Qxd7 then white forces mate.

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 9:33 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    To William...

    ''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.

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 9:35 AM , Anonymous rajib said...

    if white play1. Rd7 the possible continuation will be for black
    1... 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

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 1:36 PM , Anonymous Bedros said...

    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?

    Qxh5 will not work at all.

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 3:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    1.Nxe6 is good but 1.Rd7 is much better.

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 3:36 PM , Anonymous spansoy said...

    Qxh5 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 +-

     
  • At August 22, 2009 at 11:26 PM , Anonymous TemJeito said...

    I agree with Mr Rocks and think 1.Rd7 is the best move...
    if 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++.

     
  • At August 28, 2009 at 7:37 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

    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

     

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home