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Shelby Lyman on ChessStalemate: a buffabooTo the beginning player, stalemate is abugaboo designed for no apparent reasonexcept to frustrate him. How many limes has heDiagram 1reached the type of position in DiagramOne, played K-B5 or whatever, waited#**■How the■**%P m0*-.chessmen9*moveTHE ROOK (occasionally called*the castle) moves and cajtfures horizontally and vertically, along ranks and files.theTHE BISHOP moves and capturesdiagonally.QUEEN, the most powerfulboardtures diagonally, and horizontallyand \erticallvfiles.Tirrr1 irvirnrOlgood endgame strategyopponent to move and beK-N6 (what else?). Stalemate.and instead stared in horrorposition as he realizedEven with this degree of sophistication.few if any players think of stalemate ex-WhiteBlacksquarescreatedwith the last move,escape he hadcept as an endgame phenomenon. Theyare essentially correct but the zany prob-time the developing chesslemist Sam Lloyd has created a game in which stalemate occurs on the 12thpositionsnot only as a result of error but also asmove. Here is the position after theelement of endgaDiagram 3gy, albeit in a limited number of posinext to last move. The problem for blacktions. For example, in each of the twois to move and stalemate white. The an-positionsswer, P-B5 does the trick. See if you canwork backwards and reconstruct theDiagram 2game. The moves as conjured up byTwo), black, cogniLloyd are give at the end of this column.zant of the stalemate principle, can forcea draw’. What is his correct move, andDiagram 41.P-Q42.Q-Q23.P-QR44.Q-KB45.P-KR36.Q-KR27.R-QR38.R-KN39.N-Q210.P-KB311.P-Q512.P-QB41C* » ' *.* * * t* ‘■ . “* N E '* • 4 . . It » 4 - « » - K • * ■ • » ■ .. . --m * ■ •. * o , 4P-Q3P-K4P-K5P-KB4B-K2B-K3P-QB4Q-R4 checkB-R5B-N6P-K6P-B5???continueIf the comic perversity of Sam Lloydpositionhas not sated your appetite here is onemore stalemate position, a slight variant made powerless by the wording of apawn and on the first position of Diagram Two.rule.”goes to Rl. The pawn is now threatening Again black to move. Again the correctLYMANISMto queen. If white captures it, stalemate, play is to abandon the pawn with K-Bl.asecond position(TrytimingCommenting for all of us in his “ManualA fool and his pieces are soon parted.”of Chess,” Emanuel Lasker describedCopyright 1973 by Shelby Lymanternative.) i.e. after 1)K-Nl, 2)Address your questions to Shelby Lv-the last position this way, “If QxP,black is stalemated. With this, black man on Chess, P.O. Box 280. ArlingtonK-B6, K-Bl; 3) P-N7 check, K-Nl; 4) snaps his fingers at the white queen, Heights, III. 60000./ill i m*I9 /inm m m.. ULIIQ— Section IFriday, May 18, 1973THE HERALDlt;D*ogro«i 1)HL VI k.*6 N6 16 5 X 9X NX XXQR QN QBKB KN KRWHITE(Diagram 3) ItLUk*6 Nd 86 68X NX XXQR QN QBKB KN KRW III I E*6(Diogrom 2)ItL uk86 6 X 8XQR QN QB Q K KB KN KRWill IE(Diagram 41 BL.U.KWHITE
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Wheeling Herald
Wheeling, Illinois, US
Fri, May 18, 1973
Page 10
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CA, USA 26 Dec 2022
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