My name is Paul Motwani, but my colleagues, my students and their parents mostly call me "Mr. Mo"! My middle initial, A, stands for Anthony, because I was born on the official feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of miracles and of lost souls. I love teaching Mathematics and Chess, and giving fun-packed talks and shows in schools and clubs. The popular ingredients of Math, Chess, Mystery and Magic are my "Fantastic Four", and I give prizes too! I am an International Chess Grandmaster, and (loooooong ago!) I was the World Under-17 Champion. I am the author of five published chess books and hundreds of newspaper articles. I live with my wonderful wife and son in Belgium. I also love music, movies and puzzles.
I blog at paulmotwani.com. My e-mail address is pmotwani141@gmail.com. You can find me on Facebook, too.
Due to being busy working as the Mathematics teacher at the beautiful Musica Mundi School in Waterloo, Belgium, I don’t currently play many competitive chess games, but I do still very often think of dear chess friends all over the world. For instance, I would like to wish a super-happy birthday for tomorrow to Anuurai Sainbayar, a lovely lady chessplayer whom I met in August at the British Championships in Torquay with other friends there, including Gregg Hutchence, GM Keith Arkell and Midhun Unnikrishnan.
Happy memories from Gregg’s birthday on 14 August in Torquay ♥😊😊♥
We all laughed a lot there, and now, here in Blog Post #136, I have a sort of mathematical curiosity/tongue-twister for everyone, featuring the number 136 ! It’s this: 136 is the sum of the cubes of the digits of the sum of the cubes of its digits !! Let’s see why that is so… First, 1 cubed + 3 cubed + 6 cubed = 1 + 27 + 216 = 244. Then, 2 cubed + 4 cubed + 4 cubed = 8 + 64 + 64 = 136 ♥😊♥
Early Birthday Puzzle about Anuurai ♥
As it’s 18 October today, I offer you this quick, fun puzzle about the new age that Anuurai will be on her birthday tomorrow… The sum of the squares of the digits in Anuurai’s new age will be 18. What will be Anuurai’s new age? Feel free to send in your answer, if you like ♥😊♥
Tuesday lunchtimes are special treats this year at Musica Mundi School because we have a fun club for all students, teachers and other friends here who are interested in playing and discussing fascinating chess games and puzzles.
Raphaël is one of the very bright and talented, young mathematicians who also loves chess at the school ♥
As I know that Emile, Guillaume, Hoi Yuet, Jan V-L, Peter The Great, Raphaël, Steven, Timothée, Wout and others love sparkling attacking chess moves just as much as Anuurai does, we had several wonderful examples today 😊
It’s White to play & winIt’s White to play & win by force in this elegant study by A.TroitskyIt’s Black to play & win quicklyIt’s White to play & win in this early birthday chess treat for Anuurai (which is actually a study from almost 136 years ago!!) ♥
Have a wonderful day, dear friends, and keep a smile on your face and a rainbow in your heart ♥😊♥
With kindest wishes as always,
Paul M😊twani ♥
P.S. = Puzzle Solutions
White wins with 1 Bxh6!, intending 1…gxh6 2 Qg6+ Kh8 3 Qxh6+ Kg8 4 Rae1 Qd6 5 Qg5+ Kh7 6 Re4 Qg6 7 Rh4+ and the loose bishop on c5 will be captured for free.
The line 1 Qd2+ Kc5 2 Qb4+ Kd5 3 Qc4+ Kd6 (or 3…Ke5 4 Qc5+ Ke4 5 Qc2+, skewering Black’s king & queen) 4 Qd4+ Kmoves 5 Qa7+ emphasises the winning theme of skewers in this elegant study.
Black wins quickly with 1…exf2++ 2 Kxf2 (or 2 Kd2 Qe1+ 3 Kc2 fxg1=Q) 2…Qe1+ 3 Kf3 Qg3#.
White avoids promoting the h-pawn to a queen or bishop (which would result immediately in stalemate), and instead wins with 1 h8=R Nb1 2 Rh1! c3 3 Rh4! Na3+ (3…Nd2 is similar) 4 Kxc3 Nb1+ 5 Kc2 Na3+ 6 Kb3 Nb1 7 Rd4 (7 Rh2 is equally effective) 7…Na3 8 Rd2 and mate follows on White’s next move! ♥
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13
“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him” is Psalm 127:3, a particularly beautiful verse from The Bible. Today, my wife, Jenny, and I thoroughly enjoyed a wee trip to the lovely city of Mechelen with our son, Michael, in advance of his birthday tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Michael’s age will be the smallest positive whole number which has precisely eight divisors (or factors) including 1 and the number itself. Your first fun challenge is to figure out the new age that Michael will be tomorrow…
The name Michael is actually of Hebrew origin, and one meaning of Michael is gift from God.
If you look back to Blog Post #134, there were many joyful surprises for Leonid Kerbel (and his wife, Hagit, the founders of Musica Mundi School where I work as the school’s Mathematics teacher), as Leonid was turning 60. Their adult son, Liav (whose name is also of Hebrew origin and means God is Mine), will have his birthday on a day number this month which matches Michael’s new age for tomorrow. So, congratulations if you figured out already that Michael will be 24, and then you also know that Liav’s birthday is on October 24.
On his birthday, Liav’s new age will be a divisor (or factor) of this blog post number; that is, his age will be a factor of 135. Given that Liav is an adult and that his father, Leonid, is 60, there is only one proper possibility for the age that Liav will be…can you figure it out, fast!?
Well done for getting 27 = 135 ÷ 5; Liav will turn 27 on October 24.
Jenny and I already have some lovely surprises prepared for Michael tomorrow, and so now I’m going to offer an early, extra surprise for Liav, too! 😊
As Michael and Liav are both in their twenties, start with any number that is at least 20. It can be as big as you like, and it doesn’t necessarily even have to be a whole number. As it could be really large indeed (it’s your choice!) and it’s a surprise for Liav, let’s call your chosen number L. A calculator will come in handy regarding the following steps!
Calculate 1 ÷ L, which is going to give you a small decimal.
Let’s add on 1 as an early birthday bonus for Liav.
Using the number that you now have, raise it to the power of L.
Multiply by 10, the total number of letters in Liav Kerbel.
Round your result to the nearest whole number.
I have my fingers crossed that you’ve ended up with 27, as an early celebration for Liav! 😊
Just like Mathematics, the Royal Game of Chess is full of almost endless delightful surprises, and I’ve got an absolute beauty (based on a celebrated chess study) to share with you now ♥😊♥
It’s White to move and force checkmate in 5 moves. If you’re a chess enthusiast, I think you’re going to love this puzzle! ♥😊♥
I would like to round off this article by wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. God bless you all.
With kindest wishes as always,
Paul M😊twani ♥
P.S. = Puzzle Solutions
In the chess puzzle, White forces checkmate with 1 Nf6+!! gxf6 2 g6!! fxg6+ 3 Kxf6 g5 4 Kf5 g4 5 hxg4# ! ♥😊♥
It’s worth noting that Black had no ways of trying to deviate and escape from the above sequence; all of Black’s moves were forced, completely!
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from The Father” James 1:17
Today at Musica Mundi School in Waterloo, Belgium, there were wonderful, joyful celebrations in honour of one of the school’s co-founders, Leonid Kerbel, a world-class violinist who will turn 60 in a couple of days’ time on Sunday, 9 October.
Lots of beautiful, musical treats and personal messages from many of Leonid’s family members, colleagues, students and other friends made for an unforgettable birthday celebration, which included a delicious lunch in the school ♥
As I am employed by Leonid and his wife, Hagit Hassid-Kerbel, as the school’s Mathematics teacher, I have enjoyed preparing some extra, fun surprises 😊
Start by writing down any proper three-digit whole number that you like (such as 134, for example).
Repeat your number to now get a six-digit number (e.g. 134134).
Divide by 7, the total number of letters in VIOLINS.
Next, divide by 11, the total number of letters in COMPOSITION.
Now divide by the three-digit number that you started with…
Your result should be Leonid’s personal favourite number, 13 😊
It’s also very fitting that 13 is the total number of letters in HAPPY BIRTHDAY ♥
Have a super-happy 60th birthday, dear Leonid. Here in Blog Post #134, the number 134 is calling out to say, “(1+3) x (1+4) x three is nice to you from me!” ♥😊♥Hagit & Leonid’s blossoming school brings beautiful music to many ears ♥
What type of lovely little bird that loves to sing is hidden among the letters of LEONID KERBEL?
The one I’m thinking of is a ROBIN, also because the average length in centimetres of an adult European Robin is about 13, Leonid’s favourite number !
Write down any two numbers which add up to Leonid’s favourite 13 (e.g. 6 & 7 or -1 & 14 or 1.5 & 11.5, for example).
Multiply your two numbers together, and we’ll call the result your Star Product *
Now look back to your two starting numbers (which added up to 13). Add on my favourite 3 to each of them (e.g. 6 & 7 or -1 & 14 or 1.5 & 11.5 will then become new numbers 9 & 10 or 2 & 17 or 4.5 & 14.5, for example).
Multiply your two new numbers together, and we’ll call the new result your Super Star Product **
From your Super Star Product **, subtract your earlier Star Product *
Now add on 52, the number of whole weeks in a year…
I’m hoping that your final result was a happy hundred, to wish Leonid & Hagit 100% joy throughout the whole year, and far beyond! ♥😊😊♥
Their first reactions to the unusual musical notes around the page border coming next might include shock, surprise, laughter,…,but they’re there for a happy reason, as you’ll discover in a few moments…
In this Magic Square, the sum of the numbers in eachof the rows, columns or main diagonals is exactly 60 for Leonid 😊. The middle row is nice because, with just a wee extra touch of imagination, we can see there 2018 and 2022 in honour of the year when Musica Mundi School opened, and the current year that we’re still enjoying now ♥ The musical notes in the page border may seem to be the wrong way up, but if we look again…they’re all like hands clapping and giving Leonid a standing ovation for his daily jokes!! 😊If you like this 007 film reel tin and James Bond movies, then you may also like the fact that REEL LIKE BOND rearranges perfectly to give LEONID KERBEL !! 😊😊I’ve prepared a super-sneaky, brand-new type of Chinese takeaway from Belgium for Leonid…
Start with BELGIUM
Take away the Chinese name LIU
We now have BEGM
The positions of those letters within the English alphabet correspond to the numbers 2, 5, 7 and Leonid’s favourite 13 (for B, E, G & M, respectively)
Multiply together 2 x 5 x 7 x 13 and we get 910, nice for Leonid’s 9 October or 9/10 birthday! ♥😊♥
I am just a few months older than Leonid, but we were both born in the year 1962. Now I have a special brainteaser to offer about Leonid & myself, but I reckon that a very good number of my colleagues and students and other readers could well succeed in solving it. I’m always really pleased when people like to try the puzzles and send me in their best solutions. 😊
This puzzle is set many years into the future, but the thought is offered very happily with hope and faith. What age will Leonid be if I can say to him with both of us live at that future time, “The product of my age 13 years ago and my age 13 years from now, divided by your age now is equal to your age now”? (Note: the words “…your age now…” refer to Leonid’s age then, at the moment when I’m speaking to him.)
A remarkable detail about that brainteaser is that there’s actually only one unique, same solution no matter who’s speaking! In other words, I didn’t need to mention any birth year or specific people or relative ages of the people involved. That would certainly have made the brainteaser tougher, but the unique solution would not change at all!
Leonid & Hagit are happy that I run a Chess club in their school. So, let’s almost conclude this article with a neat chess puzzle ♥😊😊♥
The fun puzzle is to first discover exactly where Black has a new, invisible bishop somewhere on the c-file such that it will then be Black to play and force checkmate in 3 moves ♥😊♥I intend to publish solutions on Sunday, when Leonid turns 60 ♥
In the meantime, I wish everyone lots of love, blessings and a very happy weekend ♥😊♥
With kindest wishes as always,
Paul M😊twani ♥
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” James 1:17
Faithful friends are gifts from Heaven ♥
Joke: What would Winnie the Pooh get by crossing Piglet with a violin?
Hamstrings!!
P.S. = Puzzle Solutions
In the birthday brainteaser, congratulations to Jens Van Steerteghem for finding the unique solution. The future conversation referred to in the puzzle would have to be occurring sometime between 13 June and 8 October in the year 2047, when I would be 85 years old, but Leonid would be 84; not turning 85 until 9 October 2047. (85 – 13) x (85 + 13) ÷ 84 = 84. That’s the only solution with positive whole numbers to the equation (y – 13)(y + 13) ÷ x = x.
In the chess puzzle, with Black’s invisible bishop on c4, 1…Be3+! 2 Kc3 (2 Kxe3 or 2 Kd1 allow 2…Qe2#, while 2 Kc2 Qd3+ 3 Kb2 Qb3# is also a neat checkmate!) runs into 2…Qd3+ 3 Kb2 (or 3 Kb4) 3…Qb3#.
Every day that I work as the Mathematics teacher at the beautiful Musica Mundi School in Waterloo, Belgium, I am truly grateful for everyone and everything there…including the very yummy muffins, of course!!
Even when the muffins have been gobbled up by lots of appreciative teachers and students, we continue to be blessed with really good meals and extra treats, too ♥
A super-fun puzzle to go with this lovely photo is this: start with SCHOOL EAT, and add just one more well-chosen letter. Then rearrange the 10 letters that you’ll have to make a proper 10-letter English word.
There are only two possible solutions, and it’s quite beautiful that both solutions are in the photo! Can you discover both of the correct solutions? 😊😊
Looking back to Blog Post #132, which is now complete with full solutions to the puzzles given there, it turned out that
17 bananas would balance 21 muffins, in the context of the picture below.
However, imagine checking it very late at night when you’re probably really tired, and just makinga small slip of putting 21 bananas & 17 muffinsinstead of 17 bananas & 21 muffins…
Naturally, the 21 bananas will be too heavy, but still, by considering this situation, we can enjoy the following very worthwhile bonus puzzle…
It’s this: How much heavier, in total, is 21 bananas & 17 muffins than 17 bananas & 21 muffins?
I really like that puzzle, because again it’s possible to solve it without even needing to know the individual masses of either a banana or of a muffin!
In the case with the 21 bananas & 17 muffins, we basically have 4 extra bananas but 4 fewer muffins when compared with 17 bananas & 21 muffins.
If we ‘lose’ a muffin but ‘gain’ a banana, we basically gain 20g, because a banana is clearly 20g heavier than a muffin, in the right-hand part of the diagram above.
Therefore, if we ‘lose’ 4 muffins but ‘gain’ 4 bananas,
we gain 4 x 20g = an overall gain of 80g. That’s it! 😊
Congratulations if you discovered either or both of these word puzzle solutions:
SCHOOL EAT C = CHOCOLATES
&
SCHOOL EAT M = SCHOOLMATE 😊😊
Over the coming days, many of my colleagues, students and other friends have their birthdays. In one case, the daughter of a colleague of mine will be turning 003 x 007 = a ‘lucky’ 21 years old 😊.
Today, it occurred to me that the last time I actually saw Raymond Dolan (a great chess friend and Facebook friend of mine) was more than 21 years ago! However, I so loved a photo and reflection about autumn that Ray posted on his Facebook page today, that I’m now re-sharing it with y😊u here ♥
Thanks to Ray Dolan for having shared this lovely reflection via his Facebook page earlier today ♥
Wishing everyone lots of love and blessings,
Paul M😊twani ♥
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 ♥
Given that my wife, Jenny, and my son, Michael, and I all love good films, I offer you the following fun puzzle…
Nice photo taken by Jenny last Friday ♥😊😊♥
Remove just one particular letter from FUN FILMS and then rearrange the remaining 7 letters to make a proper 7-letter English word. There is only one, unique solution, but I’m confident that you’re going to find it!
This past Monday, during lunchtime at Musica Mundi School, Michail (a Bulgarian student) and I laughed as he put a chunky chocolate muffin on his tray when I told him that I had solved a Maths puzzle involving muffins earlier that very same day!
On the left, the very nice Noetic Learning picture shows that a 190-gram mass is balanced by one muffin & one banana, while on the right we see that one banana is balanced by one muffin & a 20-gram mass.
My brand-new, fun puzzle for you (still based on the data in the above picture, though) is this: Imagine emptying the left and right pans of a balance scale, and then putting only bananas in the left pan, and only muffins in the right pan. How many bananas and how many muffins should be used so that the scale will be perfectly balanced? (Assume that the pans are large enough to accommodate all the goodies that are needed to do the job!!)
It’s possible to figure out the smallest number of bananas and muffins that will be required without even calculating their actual masses!
I’m always really pleased when students, colleagues, and other readers enjoy the puzzles and happily send me their best solutions, so please do feel free!
I hope you figure out the muffins like Michail…otherwise you might go bananas!!!😊😊😊
It’s my intention to give answers in a Part II sequel to this post ♥
but before I sign off today, I would like to share a neat chess puzzle with you…
The puzzle is to locate White’s invisible knight somewhere on the f-file and show how White can then force checkmate in 3 moves, but not in 2 moves, due to the knight’s precise location.My family and I wish everyone lots of love and, as a further wee bonus puzzle, can you deduce whether the photo here was taken just before the one up at the top of this article, or just after that one!? ♥😊😊♥
With kindest wishes as always,
Paul M😊twani ♥
Corinthians 16:14 “Do everything in love.”
P.S.
As another extra bonus, replace the letters FF in MUFFINS with CIA, and then rearrange the resulting 8 letters to make a proper 8-letter English word.
Magical Musician ♥
Puzzle Solutions (being posted now on 29 September 2022)
If we remove the letter L from FUN FILMS, the remaining letters can be rearranged to make MUFFINS 😊
Imagine doubling up the left-hand scale to see that *380g would be balanced by 2 muffins + 2 bananas.*
Now multiply the contents of the right-hand scale by 19 to see that
or 19 bananas would balance 2 bananas + 21 muffins.
Finally, subtract two bananas from each side
(which thereby still maintains balance) to get that
17 bananas would balance 21 muffins, and we didn’t even need to know the individual masses of either a banana or a muffin!
In the chess puzzle, it’s true that a white knight on f5 would enable 1 Rxg7+ Kf8 2 Rh8#, but that’s too quick in this puzzle!!
Instead, put a white knight on f7, and then we get to finish beautifully with 1 Rh8+!! Bxh8 2 Nh6+ Kf8 3 Rf7#, a lovely checkmate! ♥😊♥
In the sneaky photos puzzle, we see that the gentleman wearing the red sweater has reached the shop by the end, and so that photo was taken moments after the earlier one. (He didn’t do something else just to trick all of us!!! 😊)
The beautiful Musica Mundi School in Waterloo, Belgium (where I work as the Mathematics teacher) has been blessed now with many lovely new students and staff members as the school begins its fifth year, so far. As every person in the whole school family tries to give the very best of himself/herself, we can all learn so many good things from each other. With that thought in mind, I believe that, in a special sense, every person at Musica Mundi School can say honestly, “I teach at MMS!” (with regard to himself/herself personally). What makes that all the more beautiful for me is that it can be rearranged to make “Mathematics!”
I made that delightful discovery just earlier this year, around the time when I turned 60 in June. Only yesterday, though, God gave me a fresh gift which is similar in a way to the “Mathematics!” one, but is even much more important…
I am delighted to have won the British Senior (Over 50) Chess Championship jointly with Chris Duncan and Philip Crocker at the Riviera International Centre in Torquay.
Philip Crocker and me, joint winners of the British Senior (Over 50) Chess Championship (with Chris Duncan who had to leave a bit earlier). Afterwards, Philip and I had a happy interview with WIM Natasha Regan and GM Matthew Sadler, friends of mine from long ago. This British Championship was a very precious event, not only for getting to enjoy good chess, but also for seeing dear old friends again and making many new ones. I would like to thank all the organisers, arbiters, players and Chessable (the principal sponsor) for a most memorable event ♥☺♥.Continue reading “Blog Post #130: British Senior (Over 50) Chess Champions and Unforgettable Friends ♥☺♥”
Thinking back more than 40 years to my high-school days in Dundee, Scotland, one of my jolly friends there was nicknamed ‘Happy’, and that’s exactly how he has always been to me and, I believe, to everyone who knows him. I received a very kind message from ‘Happy’ last month when I turned 60, and he sent another lovely message to wish Jenny and myself a happy 27th wedding anniversary yesterday ♥😊😊♥
Jenny & Paul’s Wedding Day, 27 years ago ♥😊😊♥
One of my favourite, beautiful word facts is that I was born makes rainbows, and now I like to think of S.M.I.L.E.S. as standing for Sixty May I Love Everyone Sincerely. A couple of my favourite sayings are, “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours” and “Your smile is a signature of God on your face.”
Photo of Paul taken by Jenny yesterday evening inside our favourite Kinepolis cinema!😊
Smiles could be seen everywhere at Musica Mundi School last week, as the leaders, teachers, staff, students, parents and many other dedicated supporters helped the school to complete its fourth wonderful year, so far.
I have a fresh puzzle for you, inspired by the nice photo below…
Paul with two great colleagues and a super student at Musica Mundi School 😊😊😊😊
Imagine that the four of us in the photo are thinking of positive whole numbers with the following special properties:-
The two ladies are thinking of the same number as each other;
the student is thinking of the largest number of any of us;
my number is the exact average (or ‘arithmetic mean’) of all of our numbers;
and now the most revealing, key fact: the sum obtained by adding up the four numbers exactly equals the product obtained by multiplying the four numbers together!
Your fun challenge is to figure out exactly what numbers each of the four of us must be thinking of to fit the wee ‘Maths st😊ry’.
The magical photo below by Erika Sziva encourages good, deep thinking…
A magical moment captured beautifully in this photo by Erika Sziva ♥😊♥
In between my 60th birthday and 27th wedding anniversary, Jenny and I went for a weekend to celebrate with friends living in a Dutch village with the perfect name: it’s called Best! Our dear friends there are literally NEAR, as their names are Nico, Erika, Alex & Robert 😊😊😊😊
Nico gave me a T-shirt with some amazingly creative mathematical expressions printed on it!
Robert and Erika’s sites are a treasure trove for chess boards, pieces, books, computers, software and delightful gift items such as chess socks, T-shirts, ties, cufflinks, pin badges, bracelets, keyrings and USB storage in the form of a chess king. You’ll also find some goodies relating to the game of draughts. Robert (an IT expert) & Erika (a WGM=Woman Chess Grandmaster) are renowned for their very fast, efficient and friendly service.
Let’s round off this article with a lovely chess puzzle.
Place an invisible white knight somewhere on the board so that it will then be White to play and force checkmate in four moves ♥😊😊♥
The most important thing I have learned in my life is that God loves us all.
I wish you a very happy day now.
Paul M😊twani ♥ xxx
P.S. = Puzzle Solutions
In the number puzzle, 1 + 1 + 2 + 4 = 8 = 1 x 1 x 2 x 4.
The ladies thought of 1; the student thought of 4; I thought of 2.
In the chess puzzle, white’s invisible knight is NOT on c5, because then checkmate could be forced too quickly with 1 Qe6+ Ke8 2 Qg8#;
rather, the invisible knight is on g7, which leads to
The forced checkmate in 4 moves is 1 Qe6+ Kf8 2 Nh5+ Ke8 3 Nf6+ Kd8 4 Qg8# ♥
My wife, Jenny, and I look forward to celebrating our wedding anniversary number 33 next month and, before then, in just 3 days from now, Jenny is due to have her birthday number 33 x 2. Here are 3 of ‘my Queen’s’ favourite photos from the past few days…
Paul & Jenny on 11.6.2022Our dear friend, Andrée, came from Luxembourg to celebrate with us ♥As you can imagine, I shouldn’t/didn’t eat even an eighth of such a cake… …others were more than willing to help!!
Here in Blog Post #128 on my 60th birthday, I would like to include a wee puzzle involving the number 128, also because H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II has now been the wonderful queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for a remarkable 70 years & 128 days, so far!
An image from long ago of H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth II, who is still reigning in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The numbers puzzle is this: use 1, 2 and 8 just once each in a calculation that results in the number 128. You can freely use any of +, -, x, ÷, parentheses ( ), and exponents wherever you wish.
As the Queen is the most powerful piece in a game of chess, let’s have a beautiful chess puzzle in which it’s White to play and force a win in just 3 moves, and White’s queen plays a stunning role…
It’s White to play and force a win in just 3 moves!
Today at Musica Mundi School where I work, three of the graduating senior students gave fascinating presentations detailing the tremendous research that they had done as part of the very high-level Musica Mundi School Diploma. Warm congratulations to all of them, and to the further four students who will present tomorrow morning.
With kindest wishes as always,
Paul M😊twani xxx ♥
P.S. = Puzzle Solutions!
2(8-1)=128 in the numbers puzzle.
In the chess puzzle, White wins with 1. Ne6+!! because of 1…fxe6 2 Qf8# or 1…K retreats 2. Qb8+ or 1…Qxe6 2 Qh6+!! intending 2…Kg8 3 Qf8# or 2…Kxh6 3 Bf8#, a lovely finish ♥😊♥.
In some ways, this particular article is one of the most unusual and special ones that I have ever had the pleasure of writing 😊! As I’m due to turn 60 on June 13, and my blog site here should have its 5th anniversary the day before then, I had originally thought that I might write something to celebrate those two occasions together. However, tonight I suddenly realised that a lovely lady whom I’ve never met will be 33 later this year on a date that is so unique that it deserves to be celebrated here, several months in advance!! You see, I always endeavour to live in this way: if something good can be done right now, I like to do it without delay, because I never assume that the chance will definitely come again later.
Anuurai, a lovely lady whom I’ve never met, is a good friend of Keith, a long-time English Chess Grandmaster friend of mine who sent me the very nice photo 😊!
SUPER-FUN BRAINTEASER ABOUT ANUURAI’S BIRTHDAY ♥😊♥
I will tell you that Anuurai’s birthday occurs A days before 31 December.
Also, Anuurai’s birthday actually occurs well before December!
The number of days from 31 December 2022 until Anuurai’s birthday next year is A x S, where S is a secret whole number that I am thinking of.
Believe it or not, you now have sufficient information given above to be able to figure out Anuurai’s exact date of birth, and the secret number S that I am also thinking of 😊!
I wish you lots of enjoyment with the fun brainteaser about Anuurai, and I intend to publish the solution before I turn 60 !! (Though I could publish a solution right now, in this special instance I have decided to wait a wee bit for people who’d like to try the puzzle without risking seeing any answers too soon down below.)
With very best wishes as always,
Paul M😊twani ♥
P.S. My wife, Jenny, and my son, Michael, and I would all like to wish a really happy birthday to Andrée, a good friend of ours who’s turned 5 x 9 + 5 + 9 = 59 today ♥😊♥
A is for Anuurai, Andrée…& All of us ♥😊♥
B😊NUS PERS😊NALW😊RD PUZZLE
Rearrange the letters of ANDREE to make a proper six-letter English word.
Congratulations in advance for finding a solution.
If you find two solutions, then you surely deserve an extra-large piece of the cake!
Finding three solutions would equal the world record!!!
It’s my intention to post answers to Anuurai’s birthday brainteaser and Andrée’s word puzzle together, before my 60th birthday 😊
Dear Friends,
It’s now 13 June 2022 and I have turned 60, very happily 😊
One of the special treats that Jenny and I loved was seeing Andrée during the past weekend. Andrée has a gift for finding good words, and so she would spot quickly that ANDREE can rearrange to ENDEAR or EARNED or NEARED.
It was also a lovely surprise to hear from Anuurai today 😊
Congratulations to all readers who figured out that Anuurai was born on 19 October 1989. Her October 19 birthday is 73 days before 31 December, and 31 December is 4 x 73 = 292 days before the next 19 October (when there’s no leap year 29 February in between). This puzzle made good use of the fact that the normal whole number of days in a complete year is 365 = 5 x 73.
Paul Motwani 