For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

[Hans Jung]

Susan Polgar's puzzle of the day features Cheparinov - Lopez Martinez from the European championship. Black to move and if Black finds the right move White should resign! The position is a nightmare from White's perspective. See: www.susanpolgar.com

[Ed Seedhouse]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

Susan Polgar's puzzle of the day features Cheparinov - Lopez Martinez from the European championship. Black to move and if Black finds the right move White should resign! The position is a nightmare from White's perspective. See: www.susanpolgar.com

Well, but the move is pretty darned easy to see. Even I saw it in about 30 seconds.

[Caesar Posylek]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

This is the diagram, as below:

Black to move and win. How should Black proceed?

Source: ChessToday.net (check out Chess Today website for more information about the best daily chess newspaper)

[Neil Sullivan]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

This is the diagram, as below:

Black to move and win. How should Black proceed?

Source: ChessToday.net (check out Chess Today website for more information about the best daily chess newspaper)

It's possible to put the position here directly so people don't need to log in:

[Hans Jung]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

Well, but the move is pretty darned easy to see. Even I saw it in about 30 seconds.

Im sure it is. - but GM Cheparinov was recently a 2700 GM and he didnt see it coming. I am not a GM but in the position what is White playing for (the plan? heck any plan will do? but what is it? White's position even without viewing the tactics looks bankrupt.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

[Event "EU-ch (Men) 11th"]
[Site "Rijeka"]
[Date "2010.03.07"]
[Round "2.23"]
[White "Cheparinov, Ivan"]
[Black "Lopez Martinez, Josep Manuel"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C18"]
[WhiteElo "2657"]
[BlackElo "2548"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2010.03.06"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "CRO"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.06"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nc6 7. Qg4 g6 8. Bd2 Bd7 9. Nf3 c4 10. h4 h6 11. Qf4 Nce7 12. a4 Qa5 13. Nh2 Bxa4 14. Ng4 Qb5 15. Nf6+ Nxf6 16. exf6 Nc6 17. Kd1 O-O-O 18. g3 b6 19. Bh3 Kb7 20. Re1 h5 21. Qf3...

[Tom O'Donnell]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

Im sure it is. - but GM Cheparinov was recently a 2700 GM and he didnt see it coming. I am not a GM but in the position what is White playing for (the plan? heck any plan will do? but what is it? White's position even without viewing the tactics looks bankrupt.

I agree with Hans. White's position looks pretty disgusting anyway, at least to me.

As for how a GM could miss some move while much lesser players found it, consider that the GM doesn't have the luxury of knowing something is there to be found. It is 100x easier to find a winning continuation out of book when you know it is "Black to play and win" than it is playing the game without that knowledge.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

As for how a GM could miss some move while much lesser players found it, consider that the GM doesn't have the luxury of knowing something is there to be found. It is 100x easier to find a winning continuation out of book when you know it is "Black to play and win" than it is playing the game without that knowledge.

+ OTB players tend to blunder (a move or a plan), though the probability goes to zero with increased rating.

[Dave Broughton]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

I guess that's why Cheparinov is "only" 2657 while his boss is 2800+.

Chess is a humbling game, and some of us have a lot to be humble about.

[Paul Bonham]

Re: For French Defence Fans Only: See Susan Polgar's Blog

As for how a GM could miss some move while much lesser players found it, consider that the GM doesn't have the luxury of knowing something is there to be found. It is 100x easier to find a winning continuation out of book when you know it is "Black to play and win" than it is playing the game without that knowledge.

Very good point, Tom. Imagine if we all played each move with the idea of finding a "play and win in X plies" kind of move, and we didn't stop thinking and actually make a move until we were absolutely convinced such a move didn't exist for the current position. Maybe this is why some players get into constant time trouble?

Do you think over-studying of puzzles can lead to this kind of syndrome? Perhaps it's a fine line between studying them enough to recognize tactics and studying them too much.