CHESS

Perhaps the most famous problem in chess was published by G Barbier in the May edition of the Glasgow Citizen in 1895. The initial position was from an ending between two players called Fenton and Potter played a few years earlier, but Barbier’s recollection of the position was not quite accurate. Thus ironically his error was the first step in the creation of a masterpiece. The position given below was White to play and Black to draw.

winning, and thus Saavedra’s name will forever be immortalised. A chess engine, with its total lack of aesthetic appreciation, finds the key underpromotion on move six in less than a second... “If we want success, sponsors, public and the rest of the parcel, we need to abolish those draws in classical tournaments. And not by Sofia rules – tournaments with Sofia rules produced as many draws as any other; and not by 30 move rule, where players are often just waiting for move 30. We need something entirely different. Like a tie-break in tennis. We need a result every single day and here is my suggestion. We play classical chess; say with a time control of four to five hours. Draw? No problems – change the colours, give us 20 minutes each and replay. Draw again? Ten minutes each change the colours and replay. Until there is a winner on that day who and gets one point and the loser gets zero; and the game is rated accordingly, irrelevant of whether it came in a classical game, rapid or blitz.” (Rustam Kasimdzhanov)