Well, he came back! And I don’t know if I’m pleased or not…He managed to find the words “No English” and again motion with his hands that he wanted to play chess.
I showed him to the chess board and again he setup a position. This time he mumbled a few things in Russian and was seemingly trying to tell me something. The hand gestures were familiar too… “Draw?” I said and he nodded, smiled and left.
So I guess White can somehow salvage a draw from this position… can you work out how?
With Jammo away on holidays we thought there would be no puzzles this month. Lucky for you I was at Chess World today when an old Russian man came in. He spoke no English at all, but motioned that he wanted a chess board. I showed him to one and he setup the following position and then left.
5k2/4p2p/6P1/3K4/8/4B3/8/8 w – - 4 20White to Play and Win
I hope he comes back soon to show me the answer!
We all know that doubled pawns are bad …. but what about two lots of doubled pawns side by side in a nice block? I’ve only had this once before, against Stewart Booth in the 1980 Australian Championship. He had a piece and I had a “block” of 4 pawns. The piece won!
It was therefore with a sense of deja-vu that I was playing on chess.com the other day and transposed into an ending a knight to the bad but with an impressive block of 4 pawns together. Would my pawns be enough for a draw or a win on this occasion I pondered? We reached the diagrammed position with White to play. White is tossing up between 1.Rf1 and 1.Ne6+.
Today’s puzzle is which move is better and what should be the result of the game?
5k2/p7/3r4/1PN3p1/5pp1/1K3p2/P4P2/4R3 w – - 0 33White to Play
Which part of the game do you think that the majority of players study the most? Openings, Middle-Games or Endgames? The answer is “Openings!” There are far more books on chess openings than any other part of the game and I guess it’s nice to be able to memorise the latest opening theory. When I was playing competitively I tried to concentrate on always playing the same opening variations (that I knew moderately well) so that I could focus on something much more important. Endgames!
Yes folks, being good at Rook Endgames (for example) will get you far more points than being an openings expert who then gets outplayed for the rest of the game.
If you’d like to try your hand at a little endgame to see how your endgame skills hold up then have a look at the position below. White is a Bishop for pawn ahead but Black has a dangerous passed pawn on b2. Who will win?
8/8/2k5/B7/8/r6p/1p5P/1R5K b KQkq – 0 1White to Play - who will win?
This week I attended the Primary and Middle School State Finals of the Chess Kids Interschool Competition held at Monash University. It was a great day with over 400 players competing and a very high standard of play. I was supervising the top boards in Middle School Competition where Scotch, Brighton and Mazenod were battling hard for top spot.
The critical game saw Brighton’s top player Issac Ng paired against Scotch’s top player Nicholas Liu. Issac got off to a great start and was a rook ahead but Nicholas won back a piece and then the exchange and a very even rook ending was reached. Nicholas offered a draw, but with the title in the balance Issac bravely played on and they reached the following position where Issac (White) has just played d5 in response to Black’s f5. Nicholas must now choose between 1…exd, 1..fxe or 1…Kf6 but surely the result must be a draw??? Nicholas played a line which gave one of the players a chance to make a blunder and sure enough he did! But was it White or Black? Can you spot the trap that he fell for. The State title hinges on your decision!
3r4/5p1p/4p1k1/3P1p2/4P3/4K3/3R2PP/8 b KQkq – 0 1Should Black play 1...exd, 1...fxe or 1...Kf6?
Imagine this scene. It’s the 2010 Chess Olympiad at Khanty-Mansiysk (Siberia) and the last round is nearly finished. Everyone is hanging around waiting for the prize-giving to start but one game is still going. Grandmaster Darryl Johansen 2420 (Australia) is trying to grind down Charles Campbell (unrated, Nigeria) to give his team a 4-0 clean sweep in the vital last round.
It has come down to a Knight ending with Darryl having an extra pawn but he has just sacrificed the pawn to achieve the following position with Black (Johansen) to play his 127th move.
Today’s puzzle his did Johansen win the game or did Campbell find a tricky way to draw? How do you think play continued?
In theory endgames should be the easiest part of the game as there are few pieces left on the board. In practice they can be very complex and require calculation of lengthy variations as well as the ability to come up with a winning “idea.” Because of this they are often an area where humans have an advantage over computers if the length of the winning variation is beyond the horizon of the computer’s analysis.
I enjoyed last’s week’s puzzle where Tal came up with a cute stalemate idea that two other grandmasters had missed and I’ve used this position in a couple of my lectures at schools already.
This week I thought you might like a go at a “simple” position with only six pieces on the board. To win White will obviously have to queen a pawn but Black seems to have them both covered. Can you find a solution?
It’s not fair! Computers have so many advantages playing against we poor humans.
They never tire. The analyse more moves than us. They analyse deeper than us. They don’t make tactical boo-boos. They don’t get distracted by their opponents eating green apples and banging the clock. It’s a wonder we can ever beat them at all.
The best chance is in the endgame. Sometimes a human can understand what is happening at a glance whereas the silly computer is still analysing every move and perhaps the solution is beyond their move horizon.
Have a look at the following positions for example.
4R3/p1r4p/1p1k1p2/3P2p1/4K1P1/1P6/P6P/8 w KQkq – 0 1 White to play
Black has just played Rc7 and is prepared to ditch his “f” pawn in an effort to get counter-play with his R. My computer says White wins after 1.Re6+ Kd7 2.Rxf6 Rc2 3.Rh6 Rxa2 4.Kf5 Rb2 5.Rxh7+ Kd6 6.Rxa7 Kxd5 7.Rh7 Rxb3 8.Kxg5 etc.
Today’s puzzle, dear human, is is the computer correct, or can you improve on his play?
Not many people like queen endings. There are so many squares that they can move to. It’s so easy to become confused or bogged down in analysis. Rather than analysing, sometimes I find it’s easier to just think in general terms and try to come up with a idea. Take the following position for example.
Black has a Queen for Rook and pawn but his King is tied down to that pesky passed pawn. How is he to make progress?
Black to move.
In chess, a fortress is an endgame drawing technique in which the side behind in material sets up a zone of protection around their King that cannot be penetrated by the opponent. The player can then draw merely by passive defense.
