A Tricky Wednesday Workout

Is your New Year's verve flagging? Fear not! While your newly purchased gym membership may be "lonely," we've got a workout for you right here at CLO. This week's problems comes to us from the world of correspondence play. Without a ticking clock, correspondence players can find incredible ideas in all kinds of positions, and the two positions offered certainly fit the bill. Set each one up on the board, and try to decide how White should play. Take all the time you need for each one, and don't worry - next week's Workout will be much easier! Position 1:

Position 2:

Ready for the answers? Position 1: Show Solution

[pgn]

[Event "Bozidar Kazic Memorial"]
[Site "corr UDSJ"]
[Date "1998.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hamarat, Tunc"]
[Black "Vukcevic, Borislav"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C76"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3k4/n1b5/r2p3p/PRpPp1p1/2N1Pp2/2NK1P2/6PP/8 w - - 0 40"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "1998.02.01"]
[EventType "tourn (corr)"]
[SourceTitle "UltraCorr3a"]
[Source "Chess Mail Ltd"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.06"]
[SourceVersion "3"]
[SourceVersionDate "2010.03.06"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

40. Rb6 $1 Rxa5 (40... Bxb6 41. axb6 Nc8 42. b7 Kc7 43. bxc8=Q+ Kxc8 44. Nb5
$18) (40... Rxb6 $2 41. axb6) 41. Rxd6+ $1 Bxd6 42. Nxa5 {Threatening Nb7+} Kd7
43. Kc4 Nc8 44. Na4 Be7 45. Nxc5+ Kc7 46. Kb5 (46. Ne6+ {may be an improvement.
}) 46... Na7+ (46... Nd6+ 47. Ka6 g4 48. fxg4 Bf6 49. Ne6+ $18) 47. Kb4 Nc8 48.
Nc4 Nd6 49. Nxd6 Kxd6 50. Nb7+ Kc7+ 51. d6+ Bxd6+ 52. Nxd6 Kxd6 53. Kb5 $1 h5
54. h3 g4 55. h4 1-0

[/pgn]

Position 2: Show Solution

[pgn]

[Event "RUS-ROW Bd5 corr"]
[Site "corr"]
[Date "1993.??.??"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Nesis, Gennady Efimovich"]
[Black "Kujala, Auvo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D44"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "3r4/p4p2/5P2/2pb1kPP/2p2P2/P1P3K1/3R4/8 w - - 0 38"]
[PlyCount "17"]

38. h6 $1 Kg6 39. h7 $5 (39. Kh4 $1 {is, as Hugh Myers says in his notes,
virtually zugzwang. Black lacks constructive moves. He analyzes} a6 40. a4 a5
41. Rd1 Kf5 42. h7 Kxf4 43. Rxd5 Rh8 44. g6 fxg6 45. Rd7 Kf5 46. Ra7 Kxf6 47.
Kg4 $1 Ke5 48. Kg5 $18) 39... Kxh7 40. f5 Rd7 (40... Kg8 $1 {is the best
chance to hold, although it's not enough. White has to find} 41. Kf4 {(missed
by Myers)} (41. g6 $2 fxg6 42. fxg6 Rd6 $1 {only draws, i.e.} 43. Kh4 Rxf6 44.
Rxd5 Rxg6 45. Rxc5 Ra6 46. Kg5 Kf7 47. Kf5 Rxa3 48. Rc7+ Ke8 $11 {Myers})) 41.
Kf4 Bc6 42. g6+ $1 (42. Rh2+ $2 Kg8 43. g6 Rd6 $1 44. Kg5 fxg6 45. fxg6 Rd5+
46. Kh6 (46. Kf4 Be8 47. g7 Rh5 $11 {Fritz Baumbach}) 46... Kf8 $1 $11) 42...
Kg8 (42... fxg6 {appears to fail to} 43. Rh2+ $1 Kg8 44. fxg6 Rd8 45. Kf5 {
(Myers) with the idea of f7+ and Rh7+} Bd7+ 46. Ke5 (46. Kg5 Be8 47. Rb2 $5 {
wti Rb7} Kf8 48. Kf5 $1 (48. Rb7 $2 Rd5+ $11) 48... Bd7+ 49. Kf4 Bc6 50. a4 Kg8
51. a5 Kf8 52. a6 Kg8 53. Kf5 Bd7+ 54. Ke5 Bc6 55. Rh2 $18) 46... Bc6 {but now
how does White win? Black needs be maneuvered into zugswang, but this is
tricky. The wins are there - I think - but they might break our pgn parser, so
deep are they!}) 43. Rb2 Rb7 (43... fxg6 44. fxg6 Rd8 45. a4 (45. Kg5 Rd5+ 46.
Kf4 Rd8 47. a4) 45... Be8 46. a5) 44. Rh2 (44. Rxb7 $2 Bxb7 45. g7 a5 $11)
44... Rb1 45. g7 (45. Ke5 {also wins}) 45... Rh1 46. Rd2 $1 (46. Rd2 Re1 47.
Rd8+ Be8 (47... Re8 48. Rd6 $1 {Myers} Re4+ 49. Kg5 Bb5 50. Rd2 $1 Re1 51. Rh2
Rg1+ 52. Kf4 {and Black has to give up the rook or get mated.}) 48. Rc8 $5 a5
49. Rxc5 $1 $18) (46. Rxh1 $2 Bxh1 47. Ke5 Bc6 $1 48. Kd6 Bb5 49. Kxc5 a6 $11 {
Morgado}) 1-0

[/pgn]