Topic: Lets play a game of Chess - page 52. (Read 160665 times)

Read the clue I gave you again. If I say more I will give it away. Look at the position after Kc2 and Rd4.

29. cxb5 is best. 29. Qe1 loses a whole piece instead of just the exchange.

1 vote Qe1 (dre1982)
4 votes cxb5 (languagehasmeaning, boolberry, XMRpromotions, Foxpup)

Are you saying that I should be solving all the way to mate? I know that King and Queen against King and Rook is supposed to be enough to win. Eventually the person with the Queen can either win the rook or force checkmate.

1 vote Qe1 dre1982
3 votes cxb5 languagehasmeaning, boolberry, xmrpromotions

The second problem looks easier to you because you think you solved it! You have not completed the problem.

"Kc2 and queen next move" is not correct with best play by black. Try to figure out why. After you play Kc2, black will play Rd4. Spend more time thinking about what will happen next.

The first problem touches on one of the most important ideas in king and pawn endgames (along with opposition) the square of the pawn.

1 vote Qe1 dre1982
2 votes cxb5 languagehasmeaning, boolberry

The second problem looks easier than the first one to me. Just play c7 and black cant stop you from queening. Black can give some checks, Rd6 check, Kb5, Rd5 check, Kb4, Rd4 check, Kb3, Rd3 check Kc2 and queen next move.

The hard part was seeing Rd6 check, Kc5 is a mistake because of Rd1 and c8=queen loses to Rc1 check. White can still make a draw with Kc6 or Kb6 instead of c8 = queen

29.Qe1 will lose at least a piece (more than a rook vs knight)
29.Qe1 Qxe1 30.Bxe1 Nc2 31.Rb1 Nxe1 (we lost a bishop)
29.Qe1 Qxe1 30.Bxe1 Nc2 31.Nb3 Nxa1 32.Nxa1 Rd1 33.Nc2 Rc1 (we will be down whole rook after losing our c2 knight of e1 bishop).

29.Nb3 freeing our rook wont help because black can just play bxc4 attacking our knight.

I vote for 29.cxb5 but it won't save us either. Black can still play Nc2

Here are two famous endgame problems.  The second one is more difficult than the first so choose based on your experience level. If you have seen these before you can confirm when someone answers correctly but please don't reveal the answer.

Easier
White to move and draw:


Harder
White to move and win:

Think Qe1 is the best move here. We will probably lose a Rook vs a Knight but all the other option are even worse. Or does someone else got something better?

Your move bitcointalk. You have the white pieces

The current position is updated below:

28.Bxe4   Qxe4

Bxe4

5 votes Bxe4 (hermesesus, boolberry, languagehasmeaning, dre1982, gotmilk_)
2 votes f3 (vite, Foxpup)

Right. Silly me

He won't play Qxc4 though. After f3, simply Qd4+ and we lose the Bishop on d2.

^exactly



What do you think of this?
28. Bxe4 Qxe4
29. f3 Qxc4

I will but was too tired to have a good look at the position.

I will go here for Bxe4.

4 votes Bxe4 (hermesesus, boolberry, languagehasmeaning, dre1982)
2 votes f3 (vite, Foxpup)

After Dxe4 we could play f3.

It is clear that we cannot win from this position, we are too far gone to even hope for a draw. However this game has always been about having fun (at least for me) so here are some thoughts on the current position.

Firstly, f3, Bxe4 and Bf1 are the only moves I've looked at, simply because any other move loses material immediately. At this point my aim is to try and prolong the game for as long as possible.

If Bf1, then I think Bf6 is surprisingly strong, at least I couldn't find a satisfactory reply for white. (I didn't really look beyond Bf6)




After Bxg2, white has the option of taking the Knight on c2 instead of capturing the Bishop of g5. One variation to this would be black playing play Bc5+ instead of Bg5, keeping the option to play Be3 later, pinning the Queen. The thing is I'm not 100% sure black will play Nc2 in response to f3.

Lastly, Bxe4 doesn't not look as bad as I originally thought, unless I've missed something. After Qxe4, I was looking at cxb5 whether black recaptures or not we could then play Nb3, protecting the Bishop on d2 and freeing the rook on a1.  It doesn't look like it would be easy for black to challenge the Knight on b3.

28. Bxe4  Qxe4   followed by 29. cxb5  feels like a slightly clearer (with less complications) path to me but I could be wrong.

What do you guys think? Let me know if I've missed anything


EDIT -  Sorry I was being sloppy with the 'whether black recaptures or not' bit   after cxb5, Bg5 is too strong to ignore    and calls for f4 instead of Nb3. I still think Bxe4 followed by cxb5 is ok though. We will probably lose the f4 pawn but it feels like an acceptable trade off for me, remember we have a pawn on b5 that has not yet been recaptured in this variation.

3 votes Bxe4 (hermesesus, boolberry, languagehasmeaning)
2 votes f3 (vite, Foxpup)

I think both options will lose but f3 seems to lose material right away to Nc2.
28.f3 Nc2 29.fxe4 Nxa1
or
28.f3 Nc2 29.Rb1 Ne3
or
28.f3 Nc2 29.Ra2 Bg5 30. f4 Bxg2 31. fxg5 Bxh3 and there is no way we survive

Bxe4 looks bad because after Qxe4 black has too many threats to stop. Our bishop remains pinned, our rook is sitting in the corner and Nc2 will either win material or allow Nd4 threatening Nf3+

28.f3 and 28.Bxe4 are really our only choices. 28.Bf1 Nc2 wins for black.

The end is near:(

I actually think our team did okay. It is move 28 and material is technically still even. Only in the last few moves when the position opened up did it become clear how much trouble we are in. His pieces are much more active and coordinated in attacking our weaknesses.

28. f3.

2 votes Bxe4 (hermesesus, boolberry)
2 votes f3 (vite, Foxpup)

Bxe4.