Chess and Corona: Quarantine ...mask.....social distancing.....

"To be content with little is not true culture, but to be free from little or from much is" - J.Krishnamurti

"FEBRUARY SEVENTEENTH WAS A FATEFUL DAY FOR SAM FLEMMING. 

Sam considered himself an extremely lucky person. As a broker for one of the major Wall Street firms, he'd become wealthy by the age of forty-six. Then, like a gambler who knew when to quit, Sam had taken his earnings and fled north from the concrete canyons of New York to idyllic Bartlet, Vermont. There he'd begun to do what he'd always wanted to do: paint.

Part of Sam's good fortune had always been his health, yet at half past four on February Seventeenth, something strange began to happen. Numerous water molecules within many of his cells began to split apart into two fragments: a relatively inoffensive hydrogen atom and a highly reactive, viciously destructive hydroxyl free radical.

The hydroxyl free radicals began to nibble away at the core of Sam Flemming's body. Before long, the cell membranes of the affected cells began to leak fluid and electrolytes. At the same time some of the cells' protein enzymes were cleaved and inactivated. Even many DNA molecules were assaulted, and specific genes were damaged."

That is how, Robin Cook's riveting book "Fatal Cure" began......

for us too........ it all began somewhere around that time in February 2020.....and .....

.......the world is experiencing something which it had never experienced! 

....we landed up locked in our 'artificial houses'.....

....and those whom we caged roamed around in 'their habitat' freely.....!

Candidates may have been stopped halfway...... (should it have started in the first place!?)

Tournaments world over cancelled ...... 

- the once in four year spectacle .... the Olympics.....

- the one and only Wimbledon....and 

- the most glamorous of all events....IPL........

The world economy is plummeting ....... 

Yet..... the humanity is facing it ....united.... and as the greatest of all poets, Thiruvalluvar wrote.... roughly 2500 years back......
"இடுக்கண் வருங்கால் நகுக அதனை 

அடுத்தூர்வது அஃதொப்பது இல்" 

which means.....when you are facing hardship, laugh at it .....and be cheerful, as that is the only way you would only win over the tough times, and you will no longer face hardship.

And....

....here is an attempt to lighten the grimness (if any!) and extrapolate those terms, that has become every household terms now..... Quarantine, ......mask, .......ventilator, ......

social distancing.....

..........to some Chess positions - compositions to be precise!

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Quarantine - 1

N.Grigoriev - 1937

The White King is in wild....far removed from where it should have been! Fearing "Corona attack" it has to rush to quarantine itself, or perish!

1.Rf5!

Every other move loses, which you may check for yourselves.

1......g3 2.Rg5 Rc3 3.Kf7! Kc2 4.Kg6 Kd2 5.Kh5 Ke2 6.Kh4 Kf2 7.Kh3

Finally White King outflanked Black King and reached his Quarantine spot!

7......Rf3 8.Rg4!

A position which is in mutual zugswang!

a) If Black Rook maintains itself in the third rank, then White Rook will move in the g-file. And whenever Black plays ......Rf3, White Rook will land on g4 square!

b) If Black Rook moves in the f-file ....say 8......Rf8 then 9.Rf4!! results in stalemate! 

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Quarantine - 2

Rinck - 1915

Two Corona infected miscreants - marked in red - are on the prowl.....and are threatening to create havoc soon! White is running out of time!

1.b6! 

......an experimental vaccine....

1.......cb6

.....which fails!

2.Rh5 Kg4 3.Rh1!!

Threatening to arrest the miscreants by 4.f3!

 3......f3 4.Kh2! Kh4  Stalemate

Perfect Self-quarantine by White King, resting on his Rook!!

We can aptly name the White King as "யானை மேல் துஞ்சிய தேவர்" - The King who rests on his elephant - which was the epithet given to The Chola King, Rajathithar, who fought valiantly and took a spear on his chest and died on his elephant, while leading his army in the battle field

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Quarantine - 3

Unknown Composer.....and the position had to be corrected

1.Nc5! dc5

Else, 2. Ne4-g3 +-

2.Ke5! h2 3.Bg4 h1=Q 4.Bf3! Qf3 Stalemate

Quarantine can happen even in the center of the Road (I can't help if it rhymes with Board!).

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Quarantine - 4

Sam Loyd 

The King of composers - Sam Loyd - breaks the tradition of problems ......and

1.ba8=N!!

......effects a capture in the first move.....and the pawn promotes to a ridiculous piece in this position - a Knight - which, due its inability to move fast on the board, will not play an active role......
I used to wonder, why they named this piece after a fastest moving animal, The Horse - just because it jumps? Is is not apt to call it a Tortoise which can jump, rather than a horse which limps!?

Anyway, every one of us love this piece .....Horse or Knight or Mule or Donkey....." what is there in the name"!

1......Kg2

The King is sent out of hospital .....as there is sever scarcity for Ventilators!

2.Nb6!!

The apparently stupid under-promotion reveals its intention! It covers the a-pawn from Bg1.

2......Kf3

The hospital beds are full and no place for the "patient" who is about to die......so the King walks out into his grave!

 3.a8=B Mate

First Casualty! 

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Quarantine - 5

Nissl - 1910

A fine composition by Nissl! Black is threatening .......Rd7 = 

White Bishop - a virulent COVID-19  starts circumventing Black's Bishop on g4 as its cover ....to inflict Black King! 

1.Bh4!

It goes North - a save haven provided by Bg4 - and threatens Be1 mate!

1......Rd1 2.Bg3

....goes East and threatens Bc7 mate.

2......Rc1 3.Bf4

....now Bd2 mate

3......Rc2 4.Bg5!! 1-0

Returns back to where it started the journey and is now threatening a dual mate: 5.Bd8! as well as 5.Bd2! 

The Rook could not act as an effective mask to prevent his King getting infected and die!

Second Casualty! 

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How it all began......!?

Mate in 1

Wonder how it can be mate in ONE!!??

1.g8=BLACK KNIGHT!!!

A legal mate position......achieved through illegal or rather mysterious means! And don't ask how the White pawn on g7 moves to g8 and becomes a Black Knight! Certain questions are not to be asked!

God Save this world!!

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Quarantine continues!

Janisch - 1850

Watch the doors of various Countries shutting ...... from rest of the world, one by one!!

1.f3 gf3 2.ed3 cd3 3.Bf5 ef5 4.Rd4 cd4 5.a8=B Bd5 6.Re6 de6 7,Bd5 ed5 8.Nf6 gf6 9.Qe5 fe5 10.Ng5! Mate

Ke4 = Rest of the World

Kd1 = .......... let us be magnanimous!

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India manages to avoid a major catastrophe!

Moravec - 1924

The two Black pawns on g2 and h2 were ready to spread great disaster in India......! 

1.Ra1 Kb8 2.Rb1 Kc8 3.Ra1 Kd8 4.Kd6 Ke8 5.Ke6 Kf8 6.Kf6 Kg8 7.Ra8! Kh7 8.Ra7 Kh6 9.Ra8 Kh5 10.Kf5 Kh4 11.Kf4 Kh5 = Somehow, India manages to keep its head afloat despite dense population.......

Perhaps, our deep rooted culture and practices has made us much more immune to any attack from outside. After all, we are a nation which has been plundered by various invaders in the past 700 years and yet, we remain unscathed! 

As 11......Kh3 12.Rh8 Mate 

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Mask, Social distancing......!

Lewandowski - 1986

White pieces masked their King sufficiently, maintaining Social distancing and managed to ward of a serious threat!

1.Nge3! Mask -1

1......Bg6 2.Qe6 Qa1 3.Bd1 Qc3 

4.Ke2  Self-Quarantine!

4......Bh5 5.Ng4 Mask -2

5......Re7 6.Nce5!! Social distancing!

6.......Re6 Stalemate

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Frank James Marshall escapes Corona threat in Manhattan.....hundred years back!!

Marshall, FJ - Mc Clure, AJ - Newyork - 1923

1.c6 Re7 2.h7 Rh5 3.Rh6!! Rh6 4.h8=Q Rh8 5.b5 Stalemate

Got himself into dire straights, Marshall walked into self-quarantine quickly and saved himself!

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Quarantine to control outburst!!

Wotawa - 1938

A beautiful position by Wotawa!

White is running out of time and has to do something immediately, else, Black will go out of control (with .....h3 when White cannot contain both the c and h pawn) and the virus will paralyze White King to death, subsequently!

Dvoretsky gave this position to Yusupov and Arthur was thinking for a long time, vainly working out variations. "Stop analysing!", Dvoretsky told Yusupov, "Just look at the position and think what you might have missed."

Let me add on to what Dvoretsky said, above.

One should ideally be looking at the positions plainly, with simple uncomplicated perception, without trying to do this or that, "try" this variation or that variation. Every position is like removing a knot - one has to be gentle and carefully release the tightness by loosening it bit by bit. If one tries to pull the two sides of a thread, the knot will get tighter and will become much more difficult to release it.

Similarly, every position should be treated like loosening a knot, gently have a look at the whole board, all the pieces, all the squares. As your vision falls on all the 64 squares and the remaining pieces on the board, the geometrical space, its various dimensions, range, will get absorbed into your thinking apparatus and it will automatically start synchronizing ....or rather harmonizing things and suddenly allow some idea to pop up! This way, you will save a lot of time, which, otherwise one ends up spending time on their clock doing futile analysis and end up in time pressure .....and mess up things.

Too much of thinking and futile analysis might create disharmony between you and the configuration on the board.  The act of playing, is an act of creation, and is supposed to be most delectable. Over-thinking makes it a hard labour and detestable! 

1.e4!!

A plain look at the position, without bothering about Black pushing his h-pawn or c-pawn and how to contain them etc, would reveal the fact that, Black's Rook is in semi-quarantined position! If White King attacks him, he will go to e8 and from there to e4 or e3.

What if he is stopped from going to e4! And what better way than making his own pawn land on that square to close the gate!

1.......fe4

Forced as if ef5 is allowed, White will hold that position easily in anycase.

2.Kg7 Re8 3.Kf7 Re5 4.Kf6 Rh5 5.Kg6 Kh8 =

and both White King and Black Rook can endlessly pursue each other....in vain!

final position

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Quarantined just in time!

Berger - 1889

Like in that famous Reti ending, White King has no way to stop that pawn, and he is in no way to try and promote his pawn.

1.f4! Kc7
1......gf4? 2.h4 +-

1......a5? 2.f5 gf 3.h4 +-

2.fg5!!

Obviously 2.f5 fails to Kd7!

2......a5 3.Kg3! a4 4.Kh4!! a3 5.g3! 

The King quarantined himself in a 3x3 room!

final position

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How to get Quarantined!

Kubbel - 1934

A year or so back, a game between Shankland and Giri ended in an amusing way.  A position which had a similar theme arose, with the former giving his hand in resignation and the later half confused whether Sam is offering draw or.......and sheepishly pockets a point and then...... explains that it is theoretical draw!

1.Bb6!

Quarantine has its own set of rules, and the most important rule is that, one should not be conditioned by a particular rule!

Both:

1.Bc5? b3 2.Kd2 Bg6 3.Kc1 Bh6 -+

1.Kd2? Bg6 2.Bb6 Kd7 3.Ba5 Bh6 -+

fails and White King gets holed-out!

1.......Kd7 2.Ba5 b3 3.Kd2!

The tempo move has to be placed at the right point in the sequence of moves, so that, right pieces reach right squares at right times! Time corresponds to space in Chess. 

In his fine book, "The Secret pulse of time", Stefan Klein wrote, "....minutes and hours are not natural measures of inner time. Nature did not equip us with an innate sense of the intervals of time that matter most in our everyday lives."

On your turn, spending a minute longer or shorter results in making you choice very different: the space on the board and how a particular piece might use or discard would fall under your purview.....and make you see things in different light! Suddenly, a new square would appear to be significant in your minds eye and a geometrical line gets opened up for one of your pieces to reach there or influence that square. It is the optimal duration which matters and not how much or how less you study a given position! 

The optimal duration cannot be determined by human mind. "Optimal" is a term which is not associated with human mind. Human mind more often respond in suboptimal ways. Optimal response will happen when the "I" - the ego is dropped, at least momentarily! And when this happens, masterpiece ideas emerge, great moves played, great shots executed, soul stirring music composed, and when asked, the artist would just say...."It happened" and that It is flow state - which is beyond human mind, beyond human thinking!

Human beings cannot even decide how much space they require to live.....and they try to live in 27 floors......and still feel claustrophobic. Tolstoy wrote a brilliant short story, "How much land does a man require" and concluded that man requires only 6 feet and if one is tall, it can be 8 feet!

Even at the cost of repetition, let me state that.......Time corresponds to space in Chess too! Try and think about this!

3.......Bg6 4.Kc1!

Right on time, when his Bishop is on the right diagonal to interpose on d2!

4......Bh6 5.Bd2 Bd2 6.Kd2 Kd6 7.Kc1

...and the King will not leave out of c1-d2. It need not be on a1 to get stalemated, was revealed by Kubbel ......86 years back! No offence meant to anyone, every great player has misplayed, misunderstood positions, and a master is one who will not make the same mistake twice!

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Quarantine March-past!!

Troitsky - 1912

A fascinating study by Troitsky - for the unique march-past both the White King and Black Rook take up and down the lane, maintaining "Social distance"

1.de6 Rc1 2.Kf2!

In Studies and problems, normal rules do not apply. 

In a tournament game that is played too, normal rules do not apply!

Are we following rules immaculately all through our daily lives!? When you observe yourself, you will find that on most occasions, one tends to bend a rule to suit his or her convenience! Rules are always meant to be bent......if possible broken!

If one plays by rule and his opponent too plays by rule, the game should drift towards perpetual equilibrium.  Seldom this happens and one side quickly drifts and the other follows and from then on, it depends on who makes the gravest "............" (for paucity of word, let me call it "mistake")

2.Kg2? Rh1 3.Kh1 Kc6 =

2......Rh1 3.e7 Rh2 4.Kf3

From now on, the White King cannot step on to the e-file, lest it will lose his precious e-pawn - the potential Queen - to a skewer!

4.......Rh3 5.Kf4 Rh4 6.Kf5 Rh5 7.Kf6 Rh6 8.Kf5

The climb up the stair was to capture that pawn on f6, so as not to allow .....Re5! That job being over, the King climbs down the stairs.

8......Rh5 9.Kf4 Rh4 10.Kf3 Rh3 11.Ke2!

The crossover point!

It looks as though, the King was trying to cross a swelling river called "e-file" and could locate finally "e2" a point where the river is bit shallow!

11......Rh2 12.Kd3!

The climb up the stairs again, in a different place! This time, the purpose is to draw the Rook from h-file to f-file......so that it can be attacked at the cross over point subsequently!

12.......Rh3 13.Kd4 Rh4 14.Kd5 Rh5 15.Kd6 Rh6

If 15......Rh1 16.Nf6 Re1 (......Rd1 17.Nd5 check and e8=Q) 16.Nd7 and Ne5 +-

16.Nf6! Rf6 17.Kd5 Rf5 18.Kd4 Rf4 19.Kd3 Rf3 20.Ke2! Wins

Final destination!

Troitsky perhaps was influenced by Saavedra and glorified it!

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COVID-19 controlled and eradicated in India!

The concluding story is about a corona terrorists who enters the a-file in a bid to spread the virus in the country, along with an aid who oversees the action and tries to sabotage attempts to nab them. 

The police, public, and the govt successfully unite and fight out the terrorist and eradicate the threat permanently!

Kubbel - 1922

The above fascinating study by Kubbel, is one of my most favourite one!

1.Nc6!!

...... the only way to stop ....a2

1......Kc6 2.Bf6! Kd5

The aid is forced to return back to d5. 2.....Kc5 3.Be7 wins the a3 pawn.

3.d3!!

This is the masterpiece move! Lock-down or 144 or Curfew imposed by Government to ensure that the Virus does not spread. A silent move, which is the most important step to contain the a-pawn - the virus terrorist on the move! Incidentally, a silent move is the most difficult one in chess: both to conceive and counter!

3......a2 4.c4!!

Now we realise the importance of 3.d3!! 

It supports this push 4.c4, stops Black King from getting on to e4 square.

4.....Kc5 

Ofcourse, 4......dc3 (ep) 5.Bc3 stops the a-pawn!

5.Kb7!!

The King steps aside from the a-file ....... the line of Covid-19, so that it can fire on all cylinders and .......nab the terrorist!

5.......a1=Q 6.Be7!! Mate

A fascinating final position!

COVID-19 Eradicated!

In conclusion, let me revisit the quote by the great Indian Philosopher J.Krishnamurti, given in the top of this article:

"To be content with little is not true culture, but to be free from little or from much is"

What does it mean!?

It throws open many doors, not a single door! Let me pose some questions, as, if I start explaining now, it will lengthen the article further......! Already I must have started testing your patience!  

First of all, what is meant by "little" or "more" or "much"?

What is meant by culture?

What is meant by true or truth?

What is meant by content?

Above all.......

What is meant by "free from....."?

Potentially, each of the above terms can be discussed in volumes! 
I shall leave you to ponder over them!

Au revoir