Abu Bakr bin Yahya al-Suli

Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Yahya al- Suli (Arabic أبو بكر محمد بن يحيى الصولي, DMG Abū Bakr Muḥammad b Yahya aṣ - Suli, . * 880, † 946 ) was a famous Arab champion in Shatranj. He was from the year 900 almost to the beginning of the modern age as the strongest player of all time.

The oldest Shatranj - game that is fully narrated, according to some sources is a matte victory as- Sulis against the Caliph al - Muktadir in Baghdad, which was played around the year 920. It begins with the Tabija Torrential current.

Other sources give the earliest complete surviving part of an encounter between as- Suli and al - Lajlaj.

Composition

As- Suli also came forward with profound chess problems that were called Mansuben in the Arab chess.

Solution:

The figures on a1 and c3 are heel. A Fers may draw only one field diagonally. In Shatranj it was possible to win by privation, that is, White wins if he can conquer the Fers on a1 without Black strikes back in return. However Immediate 1 Ka2 KC4 brings only a draw, as both heel fall.

As- Suli, who had not invented the position by his own admission was, as a solution to only 1 kb4 Kd6. However grandmaster Yuri Averbakh commented on this one train full consideration. The Grand Master, who had also worked on other positions as- Sulis, said that as- Suli could only have declared the position as a victory if he had understood the entire solution with all its subtleties.

Yuri Averbakh was in the 1980s following main line: 1 kb4 Kd6 2 KC4 Ke6 3 Kd4 Kf6 4 KD5 Kf7 5 KE5 KG7 6 Ke6 Kg8 7 Kf6 Kh8 Kg8 Kg6 8 9 Fd2! Kf8 10 Fc1 Ke7 11 Kf5, and the king will conquer the black Fers and thus win. It was later found with the help of computers a stubborn defense, suspected of Averbakh that as- Suli they also knew. 6 ... Kf8 7 Kd6 Ke8 8 KC6 Kd8 9 KB6 KC8 10 Kc5 Kd7 11 KB5 Kc7 12 KC4 Kd6 13 kb4 KE5 14 Ka3 KD5 15 Kb3. Thus, the initial position with Black is reached at the train. It is a Zugzwangstellung. The preceding extended triangle maneuver White has made the Zugpflicht to black. Black loses after 15 ... Kc5 since white convicts the Fers by c1 and the king to b1. Another possibility is 15 ... Ke4 16 Ka2 Kd3 17 Fb4 KC4 18 Fa3, and White wins because the black king can not continue to attack the white and the black Fers falls on a1.

References, Sources and notes

• Chess players ( historically )
• Arab
• Born 880
• Died 946
• Man