GM Jan Timman RIP

[Hans Jung]

The Reti position in post 68 above with its famous king walk is almost as famous as the Saavedra position.

Solution: 1.Kg7, h4

2.Kf6, Kb6

3.Ke5, h3

4.Kd6, h2

5.c7, Kb7

6.Kd7, h1=Q

7.c8=Q+ and an equal position. (draw)

[Hans Jung]

Richard Reti, Deutsch Oesterreichische Tageszeitung 1921, White to move and draw.

[Hans Jung]

Vancura position I have been asked to post the actual Vancura position so here it is. Basically Black holds a draw by checking with the rook from the side.

[Hans Jung]

https://en.chessbase.com/post/study-...-month-2020-07 This article is about the Vancura position. Also about the background of father and son Vancura. Everything you need to know about the Vancura position and background is in this well presented article.

[Hans Jung]

Solution to post 64, Timman 1993, White to move and draw:

1,Rd1+

A. 1....Kb2

2.f5! , exf5

3.Rd5 , Rg2+

4.Kh3 , Bf1

5.Rd1! , Be2

6.Re1 , Bf3

7.Rf1 , Be4

8.Rxf5 draw

or B. 1....Ka2

2.f5, exf5

3.Rd5, Rg2+

4.Kh3, Rb2

5.Kh4!, f4

6.Rf5, Rb4

7.Kg5 winning the F pawn.

[Hans Jung]

Timman 1993, White to play and draw. Dedicated to Judit Polgar.

[Hans Jung]

Solution to post 62, Josef Vancura, 1916: 1.a6+!, Kxa6


2.Bf4, Rh1

3.Bg3 closing the E-file to the rook.

3...Rf1

4.Kd8. Rd1+

5.Kc7, Rc1+

6.Kd7, Rd1+

7. Ke6, and wins. The rook is helpless to stop the pawn.

[Hans Jung]

Josef Vancura, Deutsche Schachzeitung 1916 White to play and win. This problem is also famous.

[Hans Jung]

Solution to post 60, Timman, 1986, White to play and win: 1.0-0, Rg3 2.Kh2, Rg5 3.e4, Rh5+ 4.Kg3, Rg5+ 5.Kh4 The king has no other choice but to walk forward.

5....Rg4+ 6.Kh5, Rg5+ 7.Kh6, Rg6+ 8.Kh7, Rg7+ 9.Kh8 The king has reached the corner but the checks continue.

9....Rh7+ 10.Kg8, Rg7+ 11.Kf8, Rf7+ 12.Ke8, Re7+ 13.Kd8, Rd7+ 14.Kc8 and on the next move White will capture the bishop.

[Hans Jung]

Timman, 1986, White to play and win.

[Hans Jung]

Solution to post 58 above: Timman, 2008, White to move and draw.

1.Bh4 with the idea if Black captures bishop on h4 then white king runs to h1 and draws.

1....Bc3+!! two can sacrifice!! If KxBc3 then the white king is beyond the reach of the H pawn after gxh4

2.Kd3

2...h6 forcing White to declare his intentions.

3.f4!! no backup here

3....gxh4

4.Ke2

4....h3

5.Kf2

5...Be1

6.Kg1 and a draw will result.

[Hans Jung]

Timman, 2008 White to move and draw. Having fun in the endgame. Endgame composing should be fun. Its just hard work if its not fun.

[Hans Jung]

Thanks Ken. That gives a whole different perspective. The chess world is sure an interesting place.

[Ken MacDonald]

The complete story (that I never knew until now) was that the original position was the end of a game between two amateurs in Scotland in 1875. The final position was agreed drawn although the black king was on h1.

Twenty years later Georges Barbier in his chess column in The Glasgow Weekly Citizen published the final position with the caption: "White to move and win". In his next column he moved the black king from h1 to a1 and now the caption read: "Black to play and draw".

The Spanish priest Fernando Saavedra, who was living in Scotland at the time studied the column and discovered that White had a win and so it was named after him.

The study version is by Emanuel Lasker who added the White first move and that is how the position and resulting moves became so famous.

Alas, I forget the name of the Dutch author who issued very small editions of a truly specialist chess nature sometimes only 25 copies in the early 2000s. They were professionally produced. I was lucky enough to be on his selling list. One of his books was on the Saavedra position, a complete history. I don't mean a booklet. I mean a normal size book. There was substantial information available.
I recall this now because I owned a copy of the 1st edition and the 2nd edition. He rarely produced 2nd editions. Eventually about 17 years ago I sold the 2nd edition for $800US on eBay and then the 1st edition privately for $1,000US.
His editions/books had almost become a collector's cult.

[Hans Jung]

The complete story (that I never knew until now) was that the original position was the end of a game between two amateurs in Scotland in 1875. The final position was agreed drawn although the black king was on h1.

Twenty years later Georges Barbier in his chess column in The Glasgow Weekly Citizen published the final position with the caption: "White to move and win". In his next column he moved the black king from h1 to a1 and now the caption read: "Black to play and draw".

The Spanish priest Fernando Saavedra, who was living in Scotland at the time studied the column and discovered that White had a win and so it was named after him.

The study version is by Emanuel Lasker who added the White first move and that is how the position and resulting moves became so famous.