Chess no. 413
PHILIDOR
Black White II men
10 men
I. A. Schiffmann (3rd Prize, West Sussex Gazette, 1930). White to play and mate in two moves; solution next week.
Solution to no. 412 (Baumgartner): Q - B l!, no threat. 1 . . P x Q= Q; 2 B- R 5. 1...P x B=Q; 2 Q-R 6.1 ...P-K8 =Q ch; 2 Kt -K 6. 1 . . R moves; 2 R 6. I .. • P X P; 2 R - B 6. 1 ...P-R4;2Kt-K6. Key worthy of Sam Loyd.
Lugano 2: end of the beginning
England had the bitter experience—anyone who has played any game really seriously, especially at the international level, will know just how bitter it is—of failing to qualify for the Group A finals by . the narrowest possible margin; with two qualifiers, ussa won very easily with 27 out of 28, England and the Philippines tied for second Place with 19 out of 28 and Philippines were second
0
on match score (5 wins, 2 losses against England's wins, 2 losses, 1 draw). The key match was the final one in the pre- liminaries between England and the Philippines; England had 17i, Philippines 16i. The match was very tense from the beginning. Lee's tame on Board 4 was the first to finish; Let defended well early on and came into the late middle game with a satisfactory position— be was then outplayed tactically, his opponent finding a striking series of attacking moves and went; be had a very. difficult opening, defended (his with great skill and made a strong counter- attack—then in a •knife-edged position he missed the correct move, the position turned against him end he never had another chance; 0-2. At the adjournment, Penrose and Keene had unfinished games. both unclear but in our favour, so we sere not too gloomy: we analysed until about 230 a.m. and resumed play at nine. Penrose was the first to finish; he had had a very complex struggle throughout and it was still not sure that he could win when, very short of time and forced to move instantly, his opponent left a bishop to be taken on the last move before the time control; 1-2. This completed a splendid week for Penrose, with a score of 5 out of 5. All now depended on the game of the twenty year old Ray Keene; this he had first been winning, then losing and now again had winning chances in an extremely difficult ending (B, Kt and P v R and P). No further adjournment is allowed on the final morn- ing and the game went on without any break from 9 a.m. until 5.30 p.m.—having played from seven to midnight and analysed after that, the players (and captains and team!) were a bit punch-drunk in the later stages. About 2 p.m. a Philippine claim for a draw on the grounds of the same position having occurred three times was dis- allowed—because once it had occurred with Black to move and twice with White, an incident I have never seen before. Finally, at 5.30 a valid claim was made; at move 109, it was pointed out that no pawn had been moved and no piece taken for fifty moves and the game was drawn under the fifty-move rule: 11-21 and we were out of winning a good game. Next, Kottnauer's game the finals. Poor Keene (who had the fine score of 4 wins and 3 draws in the preliminaries) had missed a win on move 87; but nobody could say he had not tried. Finally, this was a striking per- formance by the Philippines—the first Asiatic team ever to qualify for the finals.
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