Chess

Position No.6139: White Mates in three. Solution to Position No.6138: A "smothered mate" is unstoppable after 1. Rg7! Unless black allows a two-move mate (?Rg8?? 2.Rg8 mate), white plays 2. Rg8+ followed by Nf7 mate. Ask anyone even slightly familiar with chess, "Who was the best of all time?" and the name Bobby Fischer will probably arise most often. In the last several years, though, a young man from Norway has quickly and rather quietly moved onto the scene. He's been dubbed the "new Bobby Fischer.

From a second-floor room in skid row's Russ Hotel, Shirley Ree Smith spends sleepless nights listening to the knife fights and profanity-laced taunts of the drug dealers, pimps and brawlers who populate South San Julian Street. She ventures out after dark only as far as she needs to get cellphone reception for the nightly call from her daughter, Tomeka, in Kankakee, Ill. It is the emotional high point of each day spent looking for work no one will give her. Smith has been separated from her daughter and grandchildren for 14 years, since her arrest in the 1996 death of her 7-week-old grandson.

Position No. 6135: White to play and win. From the game Larry M. Evans-Pal Benko, Lone Pine 1975. Solution to Position No. 6134: White wins a piece by 1 Nd5 (threatening 2 Nxf6+ and 2 Nxe7+) Qxd1 2 Nxe7+. Grandmaster Larry M. Evans died Nov. 21 in Reno at age 78. He was one of the greatest American players, winning five U.S. Championships from 1951 to 1980. Evans was the consummate counterpuncher. Although he literally wrote the book on openings (his 10th edition of "Modern Chess Openings" was billed as "the chess player's bible")

Larry Evans was a rarity in competitive chess ? a five-time U.S. champion who wrote widely about the game, including a book once considered the chess players' bible. A chess grandmaster, he also gained fame for helping Bobby Fischer train for, and win, the 1972 world chess championship. Evans died Nov. 15 at a hospital in Reno from complications after a gall bladder operation, according to the U.S. Chess Federation, the governing body for the game. He was 78. "There's a void now in American chess," said Anthony Saidy, an international chess master.

Position No. 6134: White to play and win. From the game Ray Robson-Eugene Perelshteyn, Spice Cup, Lubbock 2010. Solution to Position No. 6133: Black wins with 1?Rh8! 2 Qe7 Bxh2! 3 Qe6+ (not 3 Rxh2 Qg2 mate) Qxe6 4 dxe6 Bf4+ 5 Kg1 Be3+ 6 Rcf2 g4 7 Re1 Bxf2+ or 7?Ba7 8 c4 g3. The Tal Memorial in Moscow ended in a three-way tie last Sunday among Levon Aronian of Armenia, Sergey Karjakin of Russia and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan. Each scored 51/2-31/2 in the round robin, a tribute to the late world champion Mikhail Tal. All 10 competitors are ranked among the world's top 18. U.S. champion Hikaru Nakamura tied for fourth place at 5-4 with Alexander Grischuk of Russia and Wang Hao of China.

Position No. 6133: Black to play and win. From the game Ryan Porter-Takashi Kurosaki, LA Open, Los Angeles 2010. Solution to Position No. 6132: White wins plenty of material by 1 Bg5! hxg5 (or 1?Qxg5 2 Nxf7+) 2 Qh5+ Bh7 3 Nxf7+. If 1?Be4, either 2 Nxf7+ Kg8 3 Nxd8+ or 2 Qxf6 gxf6 3 Bxf6+ suffices. Magnus Carlsen, the 19-year-old Norwegian grandmaster ranked first in the world for most of 2010, has withdrawn from the candidates matches leading to the 2012 world championship.

Position No. 6132: White to play and win. From the game Joseph Bellinger-Yoshio Dupree, La Palma 2010. Solution to Position No. 6131: Black wins the Queen neatly with 1?Nxg3+ 2 Kf2 Bc5! 3 Qxc5 Ne4+. Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen won the third Pearl Spring tournament in Nanjing, China, with an undefeated score of 7-3. The double round robin was the first ever to feature three players with ratings above 2800. A year ago, Carlsen won the second Pearl Spring tournament with a fantastic 8-2 score, probably his career peak.