The mate in 3 study which was given to Anand by Kramnik

by Sagar Shah - 20/02/2019

On 15th of February Vishy Anand visited the city of Pune and inaugurated a chess training centre at PYC Gymkhana. When a guest of honour cuts the ribbon and inaugurates a space, his work is done after a few pictures are taken. But being a true chess lover, Anand went through his phone, and found a very interesting mate in three problem to pose to the young kids out there. Soon enough, a crowd gathered around the chess board which had three grandmasters, over seven International Masters and India no.3 Vidit Gujrathi who were racking their brains to solve the position. Finally IM Prathamesh Mokal managed to crack the solution with the correct sequence. This was a problem sent to Anand by none other than Vladimir Kramnik and we now pose it before you to solve!

On 15th of February, Vishy Anand inaugurated the Chess Centre at PYC Hindu Gymkhana in Pune

Once we entered into the chess centre, the kids immediately rushed to the chess board and started playing moves!

Suddenly Vishy Anand started to scroll through his phone. It was quite surprising because Anand usually does not get distracted by his phone when he makes public appearances. Soon we realized that he was not actually looking at his messages or tweets, but in fact trying to search a challenging position for the youngsters to solve!

This was the position that Anand setup on the board. Mate in three!

And now we would like you to think about this position. It's White to play and Mate in 3. What do you think is the answer?

This study was composed in the year 1904, but we do not know who is the composer of the problem. What we know is that this mate in three was sent to Vishy Anand by none other than his predecessor Vladimir Kramnik! And you must remember, Kramnik's problems are never easy!