A keen hobby of mine is trying to guess the names of my Comic
Book Heroes or Villains just by looking at the costume they wear.
Usually I get it completely wrong . For instance when I first saw this guy.
I thought ‘That must be ‘The Housewife Scary Man’. (spiders...get it?)
Recently a friend gave me this because it had some chess inside it.
The villain or maybe he is the hero, you cannot tell. The story line
is as confusing to me a as Rook ending played by Vasily Smyslov.
Right away I had his name as ‘Horse Head Man!’.
I was very close. He is called ‘The Horse’.
And this is what qualifies as ‘...having chess in it.”
And in this frame.
Black has two light squared Bishops and White appears to have 9 pawns.
Why do they always get it wrong! recently I watched this.
\" class="btn btn-sm btn-std"> Aquaman v Hawkgirl
The chess bit comes in around about 2:30.
Aquaman (who I originally guessed was called ‘ Monkfish Man’ ) is playing
chess with Hawk Girl (my first thought was here is ‘Worm Eating Woman. )
The arbiter is called .Amazo (‘Giant Yellow Cool Dude’ ).
Aquaman after telling Hawk Girl she is pitiful at chess beats her and as
always the chess set is thrown all over the place. Aquaman plays Amazo
and this position is reached with Amazo claiming it is checkmate............
....It’s not and the board is round the wrong way.
Which brings me on very nicely to a chess game played in this.
This is the final position with White having played h6-h7.
“Checkmate! “ says the Sheriff
Thank Goodness for ‘Look and Learn’.
They use to have a chess column that was always correct.
Can you see the solution. Answer at the bottom of this page.
How about if I give you an idea from an RHP game.
pawnfondler - xt4jc RHP 2006
[FEN "6k1/5p1p/2p1p1p1/2P5/8/2Q1BPKB/5P2/r6q w - - 0 30"]
30. Qf6 Rg1+ 31. Kh4 Kf8 32. Qd8+ Kg7 33. Bh6+ Kxh6 34. Qf8 {Checkmate.}
red goblin grimshaw
Walter Grimshaw (1832 - 1890) and Antonin Novotny (1827-1871)
were problem composers, both have a similar theme named after them.
The Novotny is when a piece is placed on a square (usually a sacrifice) and
no matter how it is captured, it interferes with the action of another piece.
The interference square in question is where a Bishop and Rook cross.
As always better explained with a diagram. This is one from actual play.
M. Palac - G. Andruet, Chianciano, Italy 1989 (White to play)
White cannot give mate with Qf7 because of the f5 Rook
White cannot give mate with Qh8 because of the e5 Bishop
However the Rook and Bishop cross paths at f6 so the move is 41.Rf6+
If the Rook takes it mate on h8 and if the Bishops takes it’s mate on f7.
Here is an excellent Novotny from an actual OTB game.
K. Stancil - R. Goletiani, Philadelphia 2004
[FEN "3r2k1/6pp/p1p2pb1/qp2n3/3B4/1PP3Q1/P5PP/4RBK1 w - - 0 32"]
32. Rxe5 {White has seen a Novotny Trap.} 32... fxe5 33. Qxe5 {Blacks best move here is to sac back the exchange with Rxd4} 33... Rd7 {The Rook stops Qxg7 mate. The Bishop stops Qe8 mate. But their paths cross on f7.} 34. Bc4+ {The b5 pawn is pinned.} 34... Kh8 35. Bf7 {Novotny! The threat is Qxg7 mate. Rxf7 meets Qe8+ and mate next move. Black resigned.}
The Grimshaw is the same thing but without a piece moving
to the critical square where the Rook and Bishop cross paths.
A Novotny is rare in OTB games bur a Grimshaw is even rarer.
Here is the bones of a Sam Loyd problem which I have taken a free liberty with.
not to make it easier for you to understand, but to make it easier for me to explain.
White to play and mate in two moves.
The first move is 1. Qd6
Black is in Zugzwang. 1...Bf6 cuts off a flight square 2. Qd2 mate.
The Novotny themes are:
1....Rg7 2. Qxe5 mate. Black cannot play 2...Bxe5 the Rook is stopping it.
1....Bg7 2. Qg6 mate. Black cannot play 2...Rxg6 the Bishop is stopping it.
As I said a Grimshaw is very rare indeed. RHP has a Grimshaw Blunder!
patzdaddy - Macroman RHP 2008
[FEN "3r3k/7p/4Q1p1/2R5/3b4/6P1/Pr3PKP/8 w - - 0 31"]
31. Rd5 Rxf2+ 32. Kh3 Rxd5 33. Qxd5 Bf6 {OOPS! the Bishop has landed on the Rook and Bishop crossing point f6. The Rook no longer covers f8. Bg7 was a better move.} 34. Qc5 {Hits the Rook and threatens Qf8 mate. This was played out in the game.} 34... Rf5 35. Qf8 {Checkmate.}
Five more games, including three from this year, to add to the collection
of toe curling blunders that lay hidden within the RHP vaults of despair.
First is two games that contain the same theme.
dinamo - amfilohije RHP 2011
[FEN "8/8/b7/P7/8/5N1p/5K2/7k w - - 0 52"]
52. Kg3 Bb7 53. Kf2 {OOPS! Black can take the Knight. 2....Bxf3 3.Kxf3 Kg8 White Queens first on a8 but Black Queens with a check on h1 and skewers the a8 Queen.} 53... h2 {OOPS! Black not only misses the win he now presents White with a forced mate.} 54. Nh4 Ba6 {Now Nf5 and Ng3 checkmate.} 55. Nf3 {Not correct but it does not spoil the position.} 55... Bb7 56. Nh4 Ba6 57. Nf5 {Now White has found it.} 57... Bb7 58. Ng3
Same idea, mate in the corner with a Knight v a Rook’s Pawn.
Ogey - coconguyen RHP 2004
White finds the only way to lose this game.
[FEN "5n2/3k4/7P/5K2/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 66"]
66. Kf6 Ke8 {All White has to do is stay away from the square h8. Black cannot force the King there, this is a draw.} 67. Kg7 Ke7 68. Kg8 Ke8 69. Kg7 Ke7 {White should now just play h7. Black has to take it.} 70. Kh8 {OOPS! White has successfully got himself mated.} 70... Kf7 71. h7 {The only move.} 71... Ng6 {Checkmate.}
Now three games from 2017. A mate from a clear blue sky.
Hermocreek - t25 RHP 2017
[FEN "2k5/pp2b2p/2p5/8/5PK1/2P3P1/PP1N3r/3R4 w - - 0 28"]
28. a4 Kd7 {It's always dodgy to move a King into a discovered check. Black has an idea and luckily White missed the fact he could now win a Rook with Nf3+} 29. b4 Ke6 {The Black King went here to cover the square f5. Now if White would only play.....} 30. Nf3 {....Thank You.} 30... h5 {Checkmate.}
Black is winning easily. Then remembers to castling rule.
MGRIF - ricewind1972 RHP 2017
[FEN "r3k2r/p1pp1pp1/4p3/4P3/1Pb2B2/P1P1Qn1p/1K5P/3q4 w kq - 0 29"]
29. Qe4 Nd2 30. Bxd2 {Now 2.Qxd2+ and White is left with moving into mate with 2...Ka1 or losing the Queen with 2...Kb1 or swapping the Queens with 2...Qc2.} 30... Qb3+ 31. Kc1 Qxa3+ 32. Kd1 {How about 4....Bd5 here,} 32... O-O-O {....er....} 33. Qa8 {Checkmate.}
We bring down the curtain with another delightful Helpmate, this time from Black.
ebonyismydog - DerPolitzei RHP 2017
[FEN "r4r1k/8/3p1p2/p1p5/Pp2P3/1B1P1PP1/8/5RK1 w - - 0 32"]
32. f4 Ra7 {For the Helpmate to work This Rook need to go to g7.} 33. f5 Rg7 34. Kg2 {White makes room for the Rook to reach h1.} 34... Kh7 {Perfect.} 35. Rh1 {Checkmate,}
The solution to the ‘Look and Learn’ mate in two moves.
1.Qa6+ Kxa6 2.Bc8 mate.
If the King does not take the Queen then White mates on the next move.
The thread accompanying this blog is
Thread 172713 
