There are more questions than answers...

So sang Johnny Nash in 1972, evidently unaware of such fundamental algebraic concepts as over and underdetermined systems. There is a long and noble tradition of outright lies in pop music (it is eminently possible that I might have seen something like the Mighty Quinn, for example, and I am not entirely sure that Chairman Mao 'dug' repetition, either), but usually that wonderful catch-all excuse, 'artistic license', is more than acceptable. Not so here. At the risk of almost vindicating Mr. Nash, however, there are indeed more questions than answers in this post. It's a close run thing, mind, and as much as Tom might argue otherwise, this blog probably ought not to be taken as a microcosm of the real world, where there remains far more answers than questions.

Two weeks ago, in a review of the first volume of the Duncan Suttles trilogy Chess on the Edge, I posted five interesting positions that could be found within the book. They were not tactical or positional exercises as such, more a collection of flashpoints illustrative of Suttles' tendency to play moves that one would never expect. I had promised to reveal all within a few days, and then promptly failed to do so. So for those of you still wondering, here are the solutions:

a) Suttles - Letic, 1981. 31.?

This was the real stumper; not one poster got even remotely close to the answer. It is not surprising, for Suttles played the extraordinary 31.Ng3!! After the natural 31...g5 there followed 32.Bxg5 hxg5 33.Rd8. Harper and Seirawan describe this as an 'absolutely pure positional sacrifice', the aim of which is completely bind up black's position. As the authors point out, this is already beginning to come to fruition: Letic has but one piece move which does not lose material (33...Rc7). For the conclusion of this highly imaginative game, go here.

b) Schulman - Suttles, 1965. 6...?

The answer here is the decidedly un-Suttlesy 6...d5. Given that Duncan once wrote that 'Most of my opening strategies are based on control of e5 and I rarely play ...d5, even though sometimes it is the best move', it is difficult to understand. But then again, can't we say that for all of Suttles' play? In the game Schulman wisely chose 7.e5 over 7.Nxd5 e6, followed by 8...Nxd4, or 7.exd5 Nf5.

c) Evans - Suttles, 1972. 14...?

An anonymous poster was straight on the money with this one: 14...Nxg4 15.Nxg4 (15.Bxg4 Nc4) Bxg4 16.Rdg1 (again, 16.Bxg4 Nc4) and white's position is a mess.

d) Filipowicz - Suttles, 1964. 15...?

This one's a rarity - an 'only' move with deep psychological impact all the same. The solution is 15...Ne3, which Harper and Seirawan assign two exclamation marks. 'The notes in Chess Chat give this a "?!",' they write, 'but since Black's alternative is to resign, that hardly seems fair!'

e) Suttles - Schmid, 1975. 1.?

1.a3, of course! Play continued with 1...d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.b4 Bg7 4.Ra2. Nuff said.

And now, some new questions. Below are six chess-related quotations which are far from well-known. For a bit of Friday 'fun', I would like to invite you to put a name to each quotation. Some clues: a) belongs to a Victorian aesthete; the author of b) was punched live on television in the early 1960s; c) was uttered by a Surrealist; d) originates from a 1976 NME interview; e) is perhaps the most obvious, especially if you're au fait with French existentialist footballers; and f) was said to Jacob Bronowski in the back of a taxi.

a) 'In painting and poetry the workers scorn analysis, and the best work defies it, and, so far as chess is capable of analysis, it is neither art nor play.'

b) 'My own enthusiasms are numerous and mostly long-rooted. Like other people's, some grow greater with the passage of time, and some recede, though some which appear to have vanished are only lying dormant; I used, for instance, to play a lot of chess when I was young - it was indeed a passionate enthusiasm - and have only played a handful of games these years past, but whenever I have taken the pieces out I have instantly felt all the old excitement and pleasure, the eagerness to start and enjoy.'

c) 'Chess is a game where the most intense mental activity leaves no traces.'

d) 'I don't appreciate a band that likes to play chess in their off-stage hours. If you have to spend a lot of time with people who are interested in their chess boards and little card games and shit like that, it can drive you nuts.'

e) 'You cannot be a great player without being intelligent... In one second, you have to imagine a lot of possibilities and decide immediately... It's like geometry in your head. Sometimes, there are 60,000 people in the stand and you give a good ball to somebody to score and nobody could see the ball.

Why? Because you have something special and can read things nobody else could. Maradona was like Kasparov. He could see 10 moves ahead. Platini was like a chess player. So was Cruyff. So is Zinedine Zidane. It is about creativity. I don't like people who say: "I paint so I am an artist". You are an artist if you create something.'

f) 'Chess is not a game. Chess is a well-defined form of computation. You may not be able to work out the answers, but in theory there must be a solution, a right procedure in any position. Now real games... are not like that at all. Real life is not like that. Real life consists of bluffing, of little tactics of deception, of asking yourself what is the other man going to think I mean to do. And that is what games are about in my theory.'