EMSONi 2023 Confederation Festival
At the invitation of the Founder and Executive Chair of EMSONi Adekanmi Abayomi, LLB (Hons). Also BBC Sports Personality UNSUNG HERO of the Year 2020 for Northern Ireland. We were asked if we could provide chess sets at the annual festival 2023 on Saturday 5th August. I met up with Damien Cunningham at about 10:00am and setup the sets and large chess set. The area we were playing chess in was decorated with a beautiful and colourful wall cloth and a matted wall protected us from the wind - many thanks to the volunteers who set this up. The weather had been raining but it cleared up to a cool but lovely day. What was more fun was the atmosphere of the festival, with live music and dancing and football and a BBQ and making new friends. A brilliant day. I was beaten several times once by the Polish Football coach. Poland was playing Ghana in the final of the football competition. I handed out chess puzzles and to those players who showed promise a Chess Certificate to celebrate the day. One went to one of the volunteers running the Hockey stall who almost beat me. You also realise how challenging it is to learn the game when you are very young. We occasionally played games when a random piece was moved and a random piece was taken off the board all to laughter and smiles. I had the opportunity to watch part of the match between the LGBT team and Nigeria some skillful football was played. I looked back at the chess tent and all the tables had players focused on enjoying their games and chatting. Absolutely Fantastic.
Some photos from the event from a glorious day enjoyed by all. This was the second time we have enjoyed being part of such a good festival - hopefully we'll be back next year.
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The puzzles from the puzzle sheet followed by solutions at the bottom of the page.
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The answers to the above puzzles.
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1. White to mate in two 1. Ra8 any move 2. Qe7# |
2. White to mate in two 1. Qxb6 threatening Qxa7 1. … axb6 2. Nxc7# |
3. Black to mate in two 1. … Rd1+ 2. QxR Bxe3# 2. NxR Qf1# |
4. Black to mate in two 1. … Rxc2+ 2, Kxc2 Qb2# |
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5. Black to mate in two 1. ….Rh6+ 2. Kxh6 Qh4# |
6. Black to mate in two 1. .., g4+ 2. Kxg4 Be2# |
7. Black to mate in two 1. … Re1+ 2. Qxe1 Qg2# 2. Rxe1 Qh1# |
8. Black to mate in two 1. … Qxf1+ 2. Rxf1 f2# |
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9. Black to mate in 3 1. … Rh1+ 2. Kxh1 Qxh3+ 3. Kg1 Qxg2# 2. Kg3 Qh4+ 3. Rxh4 gxh4# |
10. Black to mate in 3 1. … Qxe4+ 2. Kxe4 d5+ 3. Kd3 Bf5# |
11. Black to mate in 3 1. … Qxh2+ 2. Kxh2 Nf3+ 3. Kh3 Nf2# or 3. Kh1 Nf2# |
12. Black to mate in 3 1. … Nd2+ 2. Qxd2 Re1+ 3. Qxe1 fxe1(Q)# |
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13. White to move (1001W-727) 1. Qxh7+ Kxh7 2. Rh3+ Kg8 3. Rh8# |
14. White move. (1001W-728) 1. Qxa6 Nxa6 2. Rxc8+ Kg7 3. Ng4 Qxa3 4. Bc3+ f6 5 Bxf6+ Kf7 6. Rh8 Qb4 7. Rxh7+ Kg8 8. Rd8+ Kxh7 9. Rh8# |
15. White to move (1001W-729) 1. Qd5 e6 2, Qxe6 fxe6 3, Bxe6+ Qf7 4. Rxf6 |
16. White to move (1001W-730) 1. Qxf3 Qxf3 2. Nd7+ Ka8 3. Nc6+ Na6 4. Nb6# |
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17. White to move (1000CC-264) 1. Rg5 Qxh4 2, Rg4 resigns |
18. White to move (1000CC-265) 1. Rh8+ Kf7 2. Be8!+ Nxe8 3. Kg5 resigns |
19. White to move (1000CC-266) 1. Qh7+ Kxh7 2. Nf6+ Kh8 3. Bxg7+ Kxg7 4. Rg3+ Black resigns |
20. White to move (1000CC-268) 1. Rd7 Rb1 2. Nxf7 Bxd7 3. Nd8+ resigns |
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21. White to move (BUYC-BB-20-4) 1. Kh3! avoiding g3 ( 1. Kg3? Ke3 2 h6 f4+ 3. Kg2 Ke2 4. h7 f3+ draw) 1. … f4 2. h6 f3 3. h7 f2 4. Kg2wining |
22 White to move (BUYC-BB-20-8) 1. Kc4! (or Kd4!) 1. … Kb8 2. Kd4! Kc8 3. Kd5! Kc7 4. Kc5! Kc8 5. Kb6 |
From highly recommended books :
Chess 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Laszlo Polgar.
From The books: 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations – Fred Reinfeld
1000 Checkmate Combinations – Victor Henkin
Build Up Yout Chess – Beyond the Basics – Artur Yusupov
