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Later Kibitzing> |
Mar-30-12
 | | Infohunter: The sacrifice 34...Nc4+ is just half of the picture; locking the Pawn position after 35.bxc4 with 35...c5 is of the essence as well. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | Phony Benoni: 
click for larger view<34...?>
The first thing I thought of was, "Well, why not simply 34...Kxb3 35.Bxf7+ Nc4? But after 36.Kd4 c5+ 37.Kd3 the knight is lost, the bishop controls a2-g8, and even if Black can win it for the a-pawn White's king is in good position to clean up. Then I remembered similar positions where the bishop gets blockaded by its own pawn. So how about 34...Nc4+? White sort of has to take it to avoid 35...Nd6, and after 35.bxc4 c5+! the door is slammed shut. To stop the a-pawn the White bishop has to head to b1, but when the Black king advances and attacks it can no longer cover a2 or sacrifice itself for the a-pawn. That looks good. |
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| Mar-30-12 | | think: Got this one! Don't get many Fridays. Since there are so few options, finding candidate moves was easy. One small issues was convincing myself that Kxb3 wouldn't cut it. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | sleepyirv: Forcing moves- We meet again
34... Nc4+ 35. bxc4 (Not accepting the sacrifice allows black to block the diagonal even easier after 35...Nd6) c5 nearly missed this as I was about to look at the solution instead of calculating it out.
But anyway after c5 Black controls a1, a2, b1, b2 squares which means that pawn is gonna queen. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | lost in space: Saw the4 theme: 35...Nc4+ 36. bxc4
(otherwise 36. K-move Nd6 and the a pawn wins)
36...c5 (not Kc5; the a pawn can not win alone).
And now there is no good way to stop the a-pawn. Have not callculated all variants but it is clear, that white has to use his bishop to stop the a pawn; The Black king together with the a-pawn will make the day. |
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| Mar-30-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: those interested should check out Tim Krabbe's article "Beyen's Trick" in the archive section of chesscafe.com. I knew today's position from that article, which Krabbe describes as a relatively rare case of a diagonal Beyen Trick. |
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| Mar-30-12 | | standardwisdom: Got this one relatively quickly. I am either getting smarter, or lucky on Fridays. No wrong choice amongst these two. |
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| Mar-30-12 | | Qweenlover: Infohunter is right c5 is absolutly nessesary |
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| Mar-30-12 | | Qweenlover: This Friday is less difficult, but this is a basic endgame phenomena. There must other endgames like this. |
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| Mar-30-12 | | LoveThatJoker: Cool. A Rubinetti puzzle.
<34...Nc4+! 35. bxc4> (35. Kd4 Nd6 36. Kd3 Kxb3 37. Bh7 g6 and White cannot prevent the a-pawn from promoting) <35...a4! 36. Bxf7 c5! 37. Bg6 a3 38. Bb1 Kb3 39. Kd5 Kb2 40. Bh7 a2 41. Kxc5 a1=Q 42. Kc6 Qa4+> and Black will be able to win this ending after some careful yet straight-forward maneuvering. 0-1. LTJ |
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Mar-30-12
 | | al wazir: Got it! If only I could play endgames this well OTB. |
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| Mar-30-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: @<LTJ>
you overlooked white's zwischenzug 36. c5 |
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| Mar-30-12 | | LoveThatJoker: Oh no! I went for 35...a4?? which allows, obviously, 36. c5! If I had just double-checked prior to posting...*snaps*! LTJ |
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| Mar-30-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <SimonWebbsTiger> I was posting my correction, while you posted yours. Could you kindly delete yours. I knew as soon as I saw the game score. LTJ |
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Mar-30-12
| | Phony Benoni: By the way, what is the "Argintean" Championship? |
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| Mar-30-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: @<LTJ>
don't worry -- honest chess players know that feeling! btw, you changed your avatar. I was wondering if the previous one was a cartoon of the great Tigran Vartanovich? |
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| Mar-30-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <SimonWebbsTiger> It sure is Iron Tigran! One of my faves! LTJ |
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| Mar-30-12 | | rilkefan: Funny, got this immediately after struggling all week. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | WinKing: Found this puzzle similar to an endgame study. A beautiful blocking/sacrifice! 34...Nc4+
35.bxc4 <(35.Kd4 Nd6 36.Kd3 Kxb3 is no better)> 35...c5 <(completing the blockade)> 36.Bh7 <(or 36.Bxf7 a4 37.Bg6 a3 38.Bb1
Kb3 39.h4 (or f4) Kb2 & wins)>
36...g6
37.Kf6 a4
38.Kxf7 a3
39.Bxg6 a2 & wins
Endgames can be very confusing. New moves always seems to pop up. Old endgame studies in books that were once thought to be 'dogma' have been refuted because of computer intervention. Such is the modern era. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | dzechiel: Black to move (34...?). Black is up a pawn. "Difficult." While black does have five pawns to white's four pawns, in this position the doubled, isolated c-pawns are worth only slightly more than a single pawn. Black's real advantage is his advanced a-pawn and the weakness of white's b-pawn. There's lots of ideas here, and more than one key move to consider. I see: - 34...f6+
- 34...c5
- 34...a4
- 34...Nc4+
- 34...Nb5
The more I look the more I like
34...Nc4+
At first glance I dismissed this move because the knight is en prise. But I don't think that white dares to capture the knight, ie: 35 bxc4 c5!
and white has no way to intercept the a-pawn. For instance... 36 Ke4 Kc3
keeps the king out. The try
36 Bh7
allows
36...g6
preventing the bishop from reaching b1 in time. Or
36 Bxf7 Kc3 37 Bg6 Kb2
and it's smooth sailing for the black a-pawn.
So, what if white DOESN'T capture, but simply moves the king? Let's consider... 34...Nc4+ 35 Kd4 Nd2 36 Bxf7 Nxb3+ 37 Kd3 f6
and now black is two pawns ahead and looks good to win the endgame. I think this is it. Time to check. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | Jimfromprovidence: I don't think that white should have played 35 bxc4 after 34...Nc4+ as that gives white no chance to stop the a pawn. Better was 35 Kd4, below, with the idea of 36 Bxf7.
click for larger viewHowever, black still wins after 35...Nd6!
click for larger viewWhite will now lose his b pawn and that's all she wrote. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | sevenseaman: Equal but for a P.
First thought: A defensive thought today; 34...Kxb2 looks to be a mistake but N check and the White K has several limitations. White will perhaps feel forced to take my N and then the P can march to promotion. I'll work on this line. B alone can try to stop the promotion but I think it can be dealt with by my K. I am in a bit of a hurry today. So wrong or right I will quickly try a line (w/o explanations of the logic of my moves) and return to it later. 34...Nc4+
35. bxc4 c5
36. Bxf7 a4
37. Bg6 a3
38. Bb1 Kb3
39. ~ Kb2
40. Ba2 Kxa2
And 0-1. See you folks later. I am off and away for at least 4 hours. Driving and the reason I didn't wish to carry it in my head. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | Gypsy: For an end-game aficionado, this seems easy; but delightful. Variations
34...Nxc4 35.Kd4 Nd6 ... 0-1
and
34...Nxc4 35.bxc4 c5! ............0-1
are both obvious.
But it is good to understand why the later variation wins: After the Pc4 is blocked, White B has only the complex of squares b1, a2, and b3 from which to stop the a-pawn. And even though the B reaches this complex in time, Black K comes to b2 and takes control of all of those squares at once. |
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| Mar-30-12 | | newzild: FRIDAY: 1.32pm - 1.58pm
A very interesting endgame position. I wonder how this arose? Black has an extra pawn, but it is not worth much because it is doubled. His knight may prove inferior to White's bishop, given the non-symmetrical pawn formation. Clearly, Black should be aiming to queen a pawn. Let's try the direct approach first. 34...c5
35. Bxf7 c4
36. bxc4 Nxc4
37. Bxc4 Kxc4
Black is winning because he can queen in four moves, whereas White needs seven. How can White vary? Let's try a direct race. 34...c5
35. h4 c4
36. h5 cxb3
37. Bh7 b2
38. g5 b1=Q
39. Bxb1 Nxb1
40. h6 gxh6
41. gxh6 a4
42. h7 a3
White wins by a single tempo. I think we need to look elsewhere. How about: 34...Nc4+
35. Kd4
White can also play 35. Kf4, but other king moves are probably bad because 35...Nd6+ is check. Of course, after 35. bxc4 c5 36. Bxf7 Kb3 37. h4 a4 38. Bg6 Kb2 Black will queen first. 35...Nd6
36. g4
Trying to open a diagonal for the bishop.
36...Kxb3
37. g5 g6
Otherwise White succeeds in playing 38. g6 himself.
38. h4 Kb2
39. h5 gxh5
40. g6 a4
41. gxf7 Nxf7
42. Bxf7+ Kb2
Black is winning because he can force the exchange of White's bishop for the a-pawn. This seems unusually involved for a Friday. I've almost certainly missed some finesse somewhere. Also, looking so far ahead makes it hard to visualise the board properly Time to check. |
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Mar-30-12
 | | scormus: <Jim> Thanks for the sharp observation. Like others I was very pleased to see the N-sac and follow up ... c5 to block the WB path and I didnt see the alternative winning line 35 Kd4 Nd6 etc It makes for a great endgame puzzle. |
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Later Kibitzing> |
sac: 34...Nc4+