Hint: Win the queen

The “Battle of the Sexes,” a series of three rapid chess matches at Boston’s Copley Square Hotel, paired two top U.S. players and a gifted 14-year-old prodigy against the three Polgar sisters of Hungary.

The Hungarians swept competition, with Judit Polgar, 17, overpowering U.S Champion Patrick Wolff by a 6-3 score; Zsuzsa defeating ex-Soviet champion Boris Gulko (currently ranked 2nd in the U.S.) 4 1/2-3 1/2; and Sofia winning over 14-year-old Jorge Zamora 3 1/2-1 1/2.

Master Danny Edelman who organized the Boston events, said training sessions following the exhibitions were “pure relaxation compared to Judit’s other more public activities….”

Below is a fluky but memorable victory in a blindfold game against ex-world champion Anatoly Karpov from the 1993 Melody Amber Tournament in Monaco.

Polgar — Karpov

1 e4 c6 17 Bd2 Bb7 2 d4 d5 18 Qg3 g6 3 exd5 cxd5 19 Bh6 Bg7 4 c4 Nf6 20 Bxg7 Kxg7 5 Nc3 e6 21 Ng4 Qb8 6 Nf3 Bb4 22 Ne5 Nf6 7 cxd5 Nxd5 23 Bb1 Qd6 8 Bd2 Nc6 24 Qf4 Qd5 9 Bd3 Be7 25 f3 R(a)c8 10 0-0 0-0 26 R(c)d1 Qb3 11 a3 Nxc3 27 Qd2 Rc7 12 Bxc3 Bf6 28 R(d)e1 R(f)c8 13 Ne5 Ne7 29 Re3 Qd1??(a) 14 Qf3 Nd5 30 Rxd1 Rc1 15 Be4 a5 31 Rxc1 Rxc1ch 16 R(a)c1 b6 32 Qxc1, Resigns

Note (a): Perils of blindfold chess! Karpov thinks he is capturing a rook at d1. He expects 30 Qxd1 Rc1 winning back the queen

Solution to BEGINNER’S CORNER: 1 Rf4 attacks and wins the queen.

CORRECTION: A diagram in the Aug. 23 “Shelby Lyman on Chess” column omitted a crucial piece, a white pawn on f3, which Lyman said is necessary if the solution is to work. The diagram should contain doubled white pawns at f2 and f3. Other pieces are correct as printed in the diagram