{"id":3750,"date":"2018-11-15T10:15:11","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T16:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/?p=3750"},"modified":"2018-11-15T15:18:49","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T21:18:49","slug":"judes-whistlestop-tour-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/?p=3750","title":{"rendered":"Jude’s “Whistlestop Tour” Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elwood<\/strong>: It\u2019s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it\u2019s dark … and we are wearing sun glasses.
\nJake<\/strong>: Hit it.<\/p>\n

—\u00a0 The Blues Brothers<\/em><\/p>\n

Are you looking for a brain teaser to keep those neurons stimulated and exercised? Well, I got just the one that will stretch your chess imagination.<\/p>\n

Back in the day, when Jude traveled widely from the big cities to the dusty, off the beaten path Mayberrys of mid-America, he used to challenge his simultaneous exhibition audiences with this problem —\u00a0White to play and mate in four moves<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now, there is a little anecdote about this chess problem. Before I get ahead of myself, let me define a chess \u201cproblem.\u201d They are composed, often odd looking, positions that gives you \u2013 the solver – a task with very specific stipulations. Composed “problems” are an old, honored, subculture within chess. Problems composed by 8th and 9th century Arabic masters during the golden age of the ancient game of Shatranj, forerunner of modern chess, still intrigue us to this day.<\/p>\n

Chess Grandmaster John Nunn, several times a world champion of chess problem solving contests, writes: \u201cChess problems are an unusual art form in that the audience (solvers) have to participate actively, by solving the problem, in order to appreciate the artist\u2019s message.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chess problems are in essence a battle of wits between the composer of the position and the one who is up to the challenge in solving it. Most veteran, over-the-board chess players know at least one or two of the mind bending problems of the great American chess composer Sam Loyd. He was called the \u201cproblem king\u201d for good reason. Google \u201cSam Loyd\u201d if you want to dive into this arcane world of mind games.<\/p>\n

Jude would feature every now and then a composed problem in his Berkeley Barb<\/em> chess column<\/a>. His \u201cwhistlestop\u201d chess problem was rescued and given new life by an admirer from overseas.<\/p>\n

The venerable English chess columnist Leonard Barden, 89-years-old, is still going strong with his opinions on world chess and keen analysis of top tournament games. He writes a weekly column for The Guardian<\/em><\/a>. It\u2019s a free column and worth your time to check out. Barden\u2019s column has set the record for the longest running one in chess history \u2013 63 years of uninterrupted coverage.<\/p>\n

Barden\u2019s column has cited Jude\u2019s activities several times. However, it was Barden\u2019s widely circulated book Batsford Chess Puzzles<\/em>, published in 2002, that saved Jude\u2019s challenge puzzle from fading into chess history.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Do you have the position from above set up? Good. Now, I will hand it over to the eloquent Mr. Barden: \u201cA tough puzzle which you\u2019ll do well to solve. White mates in four. American pro Jude Acers used to feature this problem in his nationwide whistlestop tours to gain the immediate attention of his audiences. He offered a prize for the correct answer, yet few could crack the puzzle even during the several hours which Acers took to complete his simultaneous exhibitions. When I mislaid the published answer and had to solve it from scratch, it took me over two hours. Can you do better?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Can solving chess \u201cproblems\u201d be helpful for real world chess? Many coaches advise their students not to engage in such “abstractions.” Other coaches believe it helps chess imagination and calculation skill.<\/p>\n

One of the great chess trainers of our time, a former top 10 player in the world, Grandmaster Artur Yusupov recommends occasionally to solve mate in two “problems.” “Exercises with mate in two moves are very well suited for training in the art of calculating short variations with great accuracy,\u201d Yusupov writes in Build Up Your Chess \u2013 The Fundamentals<\/em><\/a>. (Fun fact \u2013 Jude highly recommends the entire Quality Chess<\/em> series of Yusupov\u2019s books for chess improvement. \u201cSimple, two minute mini-lessons and lecture diagrams – easy to read,\u201d Jude said.)<\/p>\n

Give Jude\u2019s problem a try! I am sure he will be delighted to know you tried. \u201cIf I get frustrated and can\u2019t solve it, can I use a chess engine?\u201d you ask. \u201cHeavens, no! Resist if you can. Think! You will be deeply gratified when you solve it on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a bonus, here is a classic Sam Loyd problem – White to move and mate in two. This one has stumped many. Hint: most problems don\u2019t begin with a check and the \u2018key\u2019 first move by White is unique and unexpected.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You thought I was going to post the answers about here. I know you were peeking to see if the answers were here. The solutions to Jude\u2019s problem and the Sam Loyd problem will appear in a couple of days and you can check them against your solution! In the meantime, enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elwood: It\u2019s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it\u2019s dark … and we are wearing sun glasses.
\nJake: Hit it.<\/p>\n

—\u00a0 The Blues Brothers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88892,"featured_media":3751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,3],"tags":[270,271,267,10,268,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-3750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chess-history","8":"category-jude","9":"tag-artur-yusupov","10":"tag-chess-problem","11":"tag-john-nunn","12":"tag-jude-acers","13":"tag-leonard-barden","14":"tag-sam-lloyd","15":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/judeacers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/JudeMate4.jpg?fit=646%2C646&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1KM1s-Yu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/88892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/judeacers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}