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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 2 OF 5 ·
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Feb-25-10
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: <dzechiel>, get well soon, lad! We need your good work. |
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Feb-25-10
 | | mig55: I wish you a good recovery, dzechiel, but I see you found this! Good. |
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| Feb-25-10 | | zooter: <dzechiel> get well soon |
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| Feb-25-10 | | fischerstein: I also thought it was a draw a first sight. However, it seems that if white can waste a move it can win. 59... Bg7, 60.Rh1 followed by Rc1 for example. The bishop must block the c file to prevent mate on c8, so the only move black has is Bc3. After Rc2(wasting a move), black is in zugzwang, he must move his bishop and can't defend mate on c8. Any thoughts on this? |
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Feb-25-10
 | | SuperPatzer77: Ouch! It should have been a draw with 59...Bg7! =. What a mistake he had made by his resignation! 59...Bg7!, 60. Rh4 Bd4! (threatening 61...Bxa7 =), 61. Rh7 (protecting White's a-pawn) Bg7! (again - forcing repetition) = Thus, there is no way White can win the ending.
SuperPatzer77 |
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Feb-25-10
| | SuperPatzer77: <dzechiel> Oh, no! I hope your eye will be getting much better soon. I had a retinal tear in my right eye. This is Dave. I know you're David. That's my same first name. :-) I'm praying for your recovery
SuperPatzer77 (Dave) |
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Feb-25-10
 | | Once: <dzechiel & jzechiel> No peeking! Hope you get well soon. I have to admit that eyes are one of two parts of my body that I get very squeamish about, so you have my utmost sympathy. As to the puzzle, well, everyone else has said it, but here goes nothing anyway... The first thing is to notice that it is black to play and not white! That is something which is very hard to miss OTB (!), but just about every one of us has done at least once on CG.com. The second thing to notice is that, if it was white to play, he would win easily with a back rank check ... if only he can find a safe way to get to a white square on the back rank. So one killer move (if it were white to play) would be Rd7 threatening Rd8. Or Rc7 threatening Rc8. Or if the bishop moves off its current diagonal Rg7 threatening Rg8. Black must stop these moves. The third thing to notice is that black is playing for a draw as he has insufficient material to win. His king is stalemated so we either need to give away the bishop, pin it, block black from the eighth rank, or grab the a7 pawn (cos a king and bishop can defend against king and rook). The starting point has to be 59...Bg7. We must block off the seventh rank to prevent Rc7-c8, Rd7-d8 or Rg7-g8. And we have to block entry to the eighth rank with the immediate Rh7-h8. Then what? If white moves his king, we retreat the bishop back to d4 to threaten the pawn again: 60. Ka5 Bd4 61. Ka6 Bg7 repeats the position. But what if the white rook retreats along the h file to try a different entry point to the eighth rank? He might try 60. Rh3 threatening Rg3-Rg8 or Rc3-c8 or ... you get the picture. Black has two drawing schemes at his disposal, but I think only one works. If white plays 60. R-h file, black should reply 60...Bd4 threatening the a7 pawn. Play might go 60. Rh1 Bd4 61. Rd1 (Rh7 repeats) 61...Bxa7 62. Rd8+ Bb8 drawn. The other scheme is to try to keep blocking the rook by repeatedly offering the bishop and blocking the eighth rank. But I don't think this works. eg 59...Bg7 60. Rh1 Bf6 61. Rf1 Bg7 62. Rf7 Bh6 63. Rc7. A neat puzzle. |
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Feb-25-10
 | | scormus: It's not B to play and win, right? 59 .... Bg7 looks like it will draw. If 60 Rxg7 1/2-1/2. If R moves anywhere else and the ... Bd4 still covers h8 and it attacks the pawn forcing Rh7 (else its K+R vs K+B). If K moves either Bd4+ or Bd4 attacking the pawn. What have I missed? It's Friday and never played a successful ending in my life |
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Feb-25-10
| | Once: <scormus: It's Friday and never played a successful ending in my life> Um ... it's Thursday here in Godalming, Surrey, England :-) But looks like you've nailed the solution perfectly. |
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Feb-25-10
| | scormus: What 1-0? Did he lose on time? Did I write Friday? I must be getting old.
<dzechiel> I hope you're back OK soon, well done seeing the move. Take good care. |
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| Feb-25-10 | | gofer: Err, is this a Thursday puzzle? Black can only move one piece! So lets look at the alternatives; Bxa7, B on b6-g1 or B on a1-h8 59 ... Bxa7 60 Rxa7+ winning
59 ... Be3/Bf2/Bg1 60 Rh8#
59 ... Bb6/Bc5 60 Rh8+ Bd8/Bf8 61 Rxd8#/Rxf8#
59 ... Be5 60 Re7 with Re8+ with mate to follow
59 ... Ba1/Bb2/Bc3/Bf6 60 Rb7 Be5 61 Re7 with Re8+ with mate to follow So they all lose pretty quickly, the only question is whether the only remaining B is move is
a draw or still a loss!
59 ... Bg7
Well the answer seems to be yes!
60 Rxg7 stalemate
60 Ka5/Ka4 Bd4 threatening to win Pb7 with either Bxb7 or Kxb7 which should be a draw
60 Kb6 Bd4+ 61 Ka6 Bg7 repeating the position
60 Rh5/Rh3/Rh2/Rh1 Bd4 threatening to win Pb7 with Bxb7 so white must repeat Rh7! Time to check... ...the Nalimov tables...
http://www.k4it.de |
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Feb-25-10
| | Once: I couldn't resist a chuckle. Here we are, regularly kibbitzing on arguably one of the most complex mind-games yet invented, spotting moves that GMs missed, analysing variations several moves deep and yet ... ...just about all of us, at one time or another, has lost a day or gained a day, or hasn't spotted that it was black to move and not white. And when <scormus>, said it was Friday I just had to roll the mouse cursoer over the clock in the bottom right hand corner of the screen to check whether he was right or not. I must be working too hard. |
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| Feb-25-10 | | nuwanda: on of every chessplayers nightmares, resigning in a drawn position... black has nothing more to do than to oscillate between g7 and d4 with his bishop and there's nothing white can do about it, otherwise stalemate or loss of the a7-pawn with a theoretical draw. the position reminds me of a puzzle from last week: Larsen vs Miles, 1979,
where a similar position was possible if white had chosen 60.Rb3, but that time not with the unlucky position of the white rook on h7. all the best to <dzechiel & jzechiel>, as <Once> put it ... |
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| Feb-25-10 | | gofer: <dzechiel> I hope you get well soon! |
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Feb-25-10
 | | agb2002: Black has a bishop for a rook and a pawn. White threatens 60.Rc(e)7, followed by Rc(e)8+ delivering mate. The black king is on one of the right corners to achieve the draw. The only way to stop the white rook is 59... Bg7: A) 60.Rxg7, draw by stalemate.
B) 60.Kb6 Bd4+ 61.Ka6 (61.Kc6 Bxa7 =) Bg7 repeats moves. C) 60.Ka(b)5 Bd4 61.Ka6 Bg7, as in B.
D) 60.Rh1(2,3,5) Bd4 61.Rh7 (else 61... Bxa7) Bg7, etc. E) 60.Rh4 Bd4
E.1) 61.Rxd4, stalemate.
E.2) 61.Rh7 Bg7, etc.
E.3) 61.<else> Bxa7, etc. |
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Feb-25-10
 | | tarek1: The black king is stalemated so :
if 1...Bg7 white can't take. So if 2.Rh1 with the idea of Rb1-b8 for example black can always interpose the bishop :
1...Bg7 2.Rh1 Bg7 3.Rb1 Bb2 4.Rd1 Bd4 etc. White cannot make any progress it seems. |
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Feb-25-10
| | agb2002: <dzechiel>, I hope it's nothing really serious and you will recover quickly. |
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Feb-25-10
| | tarek1: Is it really necessary for Black to take a7 - or threaten to take ?
Can't Black just leave things as they are, every time the rook goes to an open file, the bishop goes in front of it saying "please take me !" and that's it. |
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| Feb-25-10 | | alanmcintyre: I wonder how many people in the world look forward to David Zechiel's daily comments and wonderd why they were missing yesterday. You and other regulars enhance our lives - all the best for a quick recovery. |
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| Feb-25-10 | | mgyver: To David Dzechiel: Sir, hope u will be well the soonest. We will miss you and your good analysis. Take care!!!! |
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Feb-25-10
 | | whiteshark: <59...Bg7!> Got it. Had the diagrams of <Jimfromprovidence> in my mind. :) |
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Feb-25-10
| | whiteshark: <A Karpov Fan: <Trying hard but failing to make progress atm :-(>> atm - after the money ?? |
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| Feb-25-10 | | TheaN: Thursday 25 February 2010
<59....?>
Target: 3:30;000
Taken: 1:47;820
Material: White up,  + /  endgame
Candidates: Bxa7, Bg7..... <[Bg7]> -ML-
Woah this is an amazing position. The Black King is stalemated, so the only drawing resources Black has in this position are either the capture of the a-pawn (impossible throughout the problem) or stalemate. The latter can be prompted by: <59....Bg7!> not allowing the White Rook to 'escape' the long diagonal by moves like Rb7-Rf7 on the seventh rank. If, for example Black keeps the tabs on h8 by Ba1, Rc7 and Re7 win. So the only option for White is to ignore the ranks and get the files: <60.Rh1 Ba1!> although this does not block any rank squares, it does not allow the Rook to force Black into zugzwang: 60....Be5? 61.Re1! and Black has to move. Now, if for example the same Re1: <61.Re1 Be5!> any square White chooses on the first rank will be parried by the Bishop blocking the diagonal, except for h1 which meets Ba1 again as h8 is the final square of the diagonal. If White tries another rank: <62.Rh1 Ba1 63.Rh3 Bc3> it does not change the situation. <64.Rd3 Bd4=> and how frustrating it is, the long diagonal is enough to block against mate and draw by the 50-move rule. |
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| Feb-25-10 | | TheaN: 3/4
How's my solution? I cannot check the tablebases but I guess it's correct... oh wait now I see, after 61.Re1 Be5 62.Re2 White can just wait a move. Oops. I guess Bd4 is the only drawing resource. It SEEMED like a nice solution. |
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Feb-25-10
| | scormus: <Once> nailed it? good, you're the one to judge ;-)
yesterday was easy as soon as I stopped trying to win it for W ;-) |
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