Chess Composition - Henri Rinck
We’ve already mentioned a famous Russian chess composer Aleksej Selesniev, and now it’s time to pay a tribute to a brilliant French artist Henri Rinck. According to Wikipedia, he had published an impressive number of endgame studies, namely 1670. Rinck’s favourite theme was domination, but he also explored the ways on how to outplay opponent’s Queen with minor pieces. This is our starting point…
The Bishop and the King will create a mating net around the Kh4.
1. Bf6+ g5 2. Kh2!
Taking away h3 and threatening g3+
2…Qxe2
The alternative was unsatisfactory 2…Qxd6+ 3. g3+ Qxg3+ 4. Nxg3, and there is no stalemate because Black d-pawn was freed to move, 4…d5 5. Nf5 checkmate.
3. Bc3!
A beautiful zugzwang! g-pawn cannot move because of Bf6, while Black has to defend e1 and 2nd rank (to prevent g3+) at the same time.
3…Qf2 4. Be5! Qe1 5. g3+ Qxg3+ 6. Bxg3 checkmate
Now back to the theme of domination. Lots of Rinck’s studies featured a trapped (dominated) piece with minimal setups on an almost empty chessboard. The following position found its place in Jonathan Levitt’s “Secrets of Spectacular Chess, 2nd ed”
1. Nf7! Ba1 2. Kb1
And the Bishop will end up caught, if 2…Bc3 (or Bd4), then 3. Nd6+ Kxc7 4. Nb5+ wins. Alternatively, 2…Bf6 (Bg7) 3. Nd6+ Kxc7 4. Ne8+.
This cute forking reminded me of Peter Leko’s missed win in the game against none other than Garry Kasparov, played at the 2002 Bled Chess Olympiad.
Taught by the previous example, we should find 53. Nf8+ Kd6 54. c7 Kxc7 55. Ne6+ Kd6 56. Nxg5 Kd5 57. Kd3, comfortably winning. Giving the f-pawn away on earlier occasion doesn’t help, 54…f3+ 55. Kxf3 Kxc7 56. Ne6+ Kd6 57. Nxg5 Kc5 58. Ke3 Kc4 59. Kd2, and White arrives just on time to shoulder-off the Black King.
Peter Leko threw the win away by actually playing 53. Ne5 Bd8 54. Nc4 Kd5, when draw was agreed
andy said,
Wrote on August 9, 2009 @ 11:27 pm
Hello!
I am fairly new to chess and happened upon your website. I had a question about the first scenario presented in your “Chess Composition - Henri Rinck” piece:
If
1. Kh2
2. Bg3+ is mate,
Unless:
1…Qxd4, where 2. Nxd4 captures black queen,
1…Qxg3, where 2. hxg3 captures black queen,
1…g5, where 2. Bf2 mates
…I just saw 1…Qg4
Which still seems like it puts black in a very awkward position. 1. Kh2 Qg4 2. g3 Kg5 3. f4 Kh6, or 3. Be3 Kf6… Either way the King gains access to white tiles and the queen runs rampant…
Is this all obvious at a glance to an experienced chess player?
Thanks,
Andy
Goran Urosevic said,
Wrote on August 9, 2009 @ 11:35 pm
Hi Andy, thank you for the comment. I am afraid some of the moves you presented are not legal (like 1…Qg4 or 1…Qxg3).
If White starts with 1. Kh2, Black King has an escape square on g5 (and then as you wrote h6 and so on). That is why the reason why White is starting with a check, 1. Bf6+, which takes/covers g5 away from Black King and then proceeds with 2. Kh2.
Do you have any chess books?
andy said,
Wrote on August 10, 2009 @ 2:08 am
Ah, I had not considered moving the black king first. I suppose *very* new would be the proper description
As for the moves, sorry, Qxg4 and Qxg3 was a typo, I meant Qxf4 and Qxf3, respectively. I was working from memory and don’t even have the letters down for the ranks, it seems
I don’t have any chess books. Do you have suggestions? I have bought a couple of cheap computer programs to get to a very basic level of play (Majestic Chess because it seemed entertaining, and one of the chessmaster series for slightly more serious play.)
I’ve seen a bit of hype for the Fritz programs, and I also downloaded some “opening books” on Ubuntu, though I’ve not looked into how to use them yet.
Any recommendations (for Books, software, etc)?
Goran Urosevic said,
Wrote on August 11, 2009 @ 11:49 am
Try “Logical Chess - Move By Move” by Irving Chernev or “Starting Out: Chess Tactics and Checkmates” by Chris Ward
Also browse through Gambit books at http://www.gambitbooks.com/BooksBySubject.html
hope this helps and good luck
walter raugh said,
Wrote on August 11, 2009 @ 8:49 pm
hello,
What edition of ECO is best?
thank you in advance,
Walter Raugh
Goran Urosevic said,
Wrote on August 12, 2009 @ 10:39 am
Hi Walter,
it depends on which opening you want to learn. But in any case, I would suggest specific opening books with text explanations rather than ECO codes.
Good luck