Christan’s Mate: White moves and mates in two moves.

We dedicate today’s position to Christan Small, the woman member of the University of Maine Chess Team. It’s solution has more the quality of feminine elegance than masculine brute force.

The UM Chess Team went to Chicago during the Christmas break and played in the Pan American Tournament, rated 22nd of 33 teams and came out tied for 6th place. They also tied for first for B Class teams, having ratings from 1600 to 1800. They slipped on the playoff so the team winning the B trophy on tie-breakers was Wright State College of Dayton, Ohio.

Top scorer Alan Brooks, 4-2, played second board against strong opponents. Next was Trond Hildahl, 3 1/2-2 1/2, for a positive score. Pete Markiewicz held opponents even with a 3-3 score. Christan Small managed a 3 1/2-2 1/2 to give the team 3 1/4-2 1/4.

The champion team was the University of Illinois. Their board 1 player, Vivek Rao, scored 5 1/2- 1/2 and would have made a clean sweep if he had not played Pete Markiewicz for a draw. Since Vivek is a senior master rated 2550 and Markiewicz is only an expert rated 2074, this is a major upset. If he competes more with chess masters, Markiewicz will have little trouble earning master class. Vivek played against current United States champion, Gata Kamsky, and won, leaving Markiewicz to spoil an otherwise perfect score.

Solution: The key to the two-move mate is 1Rf8-g8!! not the naive 1Rf8xf5+, which wins easily but requires more moves. What is Black to do? If 1…Nf5-h6, 2.Rg2-h2 Mate. If 1…Nf5-h4, 2.Rg8-h8 Mate. If 1…Kh5-h6, 2.Rg8-h8 Mate. If 1…Kh5-h4, 2.Rg2-h2 Mate. If 1…Nf5-g7, 2.Rg8-h8 Mate. If 1…Nf5-g3, 2.Rg2-h2 Mate. With any other Knight move, White can mate with either Rook. The two-move winner displays an elegant grasp of the possibilities. The four-move (give or take another move) winner displays a superficial grasp of the game and will eventually lose to the two-move winner. Enjoy finding the hidden possibilities of chess positions and learn to play elegantly!