The King's gambit is solved...

[Mats Winther]

The King's gambit is solved:
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8047

How long will it take to solve the rest of the minor openings, until only certain Sicilian and Spanish systems remain?

This should be an eye-opener to those people who renounce chess variants. I have suggested several types of amendments to achieve an increased variance in chess, as this one:
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/relocationvariants.htm

Mats Winther

[Paul McKeown]

I had to check the dateline for that piece, 2 April 2012, so not a fool.

Very interesting, the KGA is a draw, but only after 3. Be2, all other third moves lose for White. The chess computer expert finds this surprising, but me and my mate Jim Stevenson have been playing that for donkeys (well I play 1. d4 these days, but on the odd occasion now), as we were suspicious of 3. Nf3 as the theoretical lines for White were leaving less and less room for hope (White just seems to get kicked back by the g pawn or is unable to get his investment back) and 3. Bc4 as it just didn't seem to give White much at all after either the mainline 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bb3 d5 6. ed cd 7. d4 Bd6 8. Nge2 0-0 9. Bxf4 (Fischer) or the main alternative in 8. Nf3 (Short).

But 3. Be2, nice solid, develop your pieces where Black can't annoy them... Jim even played it in the Scottish Ch. on occasion.

Strange to think of an opening being "solved". Not that it should stop anyone from playing it, though.

[Paul McKeown]

This should be an eye-opener to those people who renounce chess variants. I have suggested several types of amendments to achieve an increased variance in chess, as this one:
http://hem.passagen.se/melki9/relocationvariants.htm

Don't be silly, no one is even going to give up on the KGA, just because some computer says, "remis". There is plenty of scope for human creativity.

[Peter Shaw]

Are we sure this isn't an April fool? You never know with Chessbase. They mention that he moved to Budapest on 31 March and the interview was the 'next day'. It all sounds highly unlikely to me. I can sort of understand how you could prove certain moves win or lose, but how do you prove something leads to a draw? Maybe the evaluation stays at 0.5 until deep into the endgame?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Fascinating article. And a bit scary that they might 'solve' the Bg5 Najdorf next. Since White can force a draw even after giving up a pawn on move 2, does this mean the opening position is (as long suspected) a draw?

If it is an April Fool's, they should be congratulated on a great fool, but the three articles published on 1st April look more likely candidates (traditionally for Chessbase, one will be a Fool, the others real):

"Capablanca's Chess + Billiards match"
"The 'Let's Check' Crystal Ball "
"Chess Match of the Century table up for sale"

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8044
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8045
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8046

[Paul McKeown]

April Fool?

Well the fool would be on them, then, as their date line is 2 April, not 1 April...

I checked, as I was initially suspicious!

[Peter Shaw]

Maybe it's an April fool by Rajlich and Chessbase fell for it!

[Paul McKeown]

Of course if it is a fool, then fair enough, Rajlich has fooled Chessbase. He gave the interview on the 1st of the month, Chessbase published it on the 2nd.

We'll see! Anyway, I still recommend 3. Be2!

[Paul McKeown]

But most interesting is:

I say this with some apprehension, but we've been looking at the 6.Bg5 Najdorf (10.e5! looks promising as a forced win for White).

If it's a wind-up, it's good!

[Peter Roberson]

No idea why it's appeared on chessbase today but it's as blatantly false as any story I saw yesterday!

[Paul McKeown]

Peter, you could well be right! But then Chessbase are idiots for publishing on the 2nd...

The bit about the Najdorf Poisoned Pawn with 10. e5 is a bit of a give away. That's too much... nice to think it's true, but... it's too much. Particularly the bit about needing a thousand times the hardware to solve that one. That would be close on, err, 3 million cores. Yeah.

[John Cox]

I'd guess the Capa story is the true one - I have an idea he was interested in billiards, and certainly in games generally.

As to the present effort, it's a bit unethical dating April Fools 2nd April, surely? Still more likely than the alternative, though.

[Richard James]

I'd guess the Capa story is the true one - I have an idea he was interested in billiards, and certainly in games generally.

As to the present effort, it's a bit unethical dating April Fools 2nd April, surely? Still more likely than the alternative, though.

The Capablanca billiards story is known to be a hoax:

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extr ... iards.html

[Geoff Chandler]

It's a joke.

You have to look at these things. Think, don't blink. If you blink you miss it.

The clue in these things is usually given at the start of the piece.

Ist paragraph.

"Fifty years ago Bobby Fischer published a famous article, "A Bust to the King's Gambit",
in which he claimed to have refuted this formerly popular opening."

Look for what stands out:
The gag there is; "formerly popular opening." so look at it.

'formerly' = previous.

"popular opening" comes after 'formerly in the sentence so what was "popular opening"...."formely"
(I'm trying to explain how you look for anagrams in good crossword clues.)

'Popular Opening' was 'formely' a perfect anagram of:

April One Popgun.

April one = April 1st
Popgun = a toy gun, a joke gun. A joke.

It's an April 1st Joke.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Chessbase do an April Fool every year - this is 2012's effort. Given how it tricked some on here and elsewhere, not bad