So your bid is <0.00>?

Bold!

Ok then I'm declaring <hms123: a Messin' Round Gentleman> to be winner of the Contest.

You should have competed in this Christmas <CG.com> Holiday quiz.

No.

<Hex, Pawn mass distraction, Time trouble>-

NO!

These are not necessary to explain the missed tactic.

They may have been in play- but not necessarily so.

A: GMs miss more of these moves than you might think. Check out the <DOH!> game collection in my Profile. I also posted it in your Profile <Wood>

B: Ok even we know to look for tactics like <VACATING THE SQUARE>, <A STALEMATED KING ONLY NEEDS ONE CHECK>, and <WHEN A LINED UP PIECE VACATES A SQUARE IT SUPPORTS THAT SQUARE WITH THE LINED UP PIECE>.

The trick is to remember all of these <TACTICAL TIPS> all at the same time, every time, in every position.

We think it's easy because it is easy. It's easy because Howard made a FEN and asked for the move.

<AA Alekhine> said he looked for stuff like this on <EACH AND EVERY MOVE>, and that it took him till late in his career to realize there wasn't a hidden forced winning combination in every single chess position.

But his romantic belief that there was- it made him look harder than maybe any one else in chess history.

I did. I actually won a three-month membership extension on the <Bongo> question. Funny thing is, I recognized the animal immediately, having seen and photographed them often in zoos.

I agree <JFQ>, no miss really requires an explanation beyond 'the player was human' , but some oversights are more surprising than others.

For example, in supposedly quiet positions where there is 'no danger' these things are to be expected, but in positions with a lot of tension I think it is slightly more surprising that the GM was not a bit more alert.

Basically in that position White has to A. Stop the pawns or B.Mate the opponents King.

I just thought this would have enabled the move to be found.

But as you say, not exactly earth shattering news a human GM missed a move.

The K12 U1600 team won with one of the players going 7.0/7.0 and winning a personal National title as well as a team National title all in one game.

That section had 53 teams.

The K12 U1200 had 73 teams and our split HS squad took 4th.

A good result all the way around.

Thanks for being so good with the kids.

also I found this post

Sung to the Copacabana

<
Open Defence: <jess> the great Capacobana's first chess book was one on END GAMES... Fischer too was able to beat the Ruskies mainly because he did not crumble at the end game like many others before him and even a small advantage could be converted to a win...

His name was Capa
he got mean end game
Bishops versus Knights
Pawns on either side

Now please take it out.

Please...

Spartans!

I posted it at my house.

Oh almost forgot.

Not only did I love the article, I WAS COMPLETELY UNDER THE IMPRESSION YOU HAD WRITTEN IT!!

I was thinking what a marvelous writer you are.

Well you are, so I can be forgiven probably.

Anyhoo that article has inspired me to create something of my own here.

Well not <right> here.

Righto- EMU has been stuffed and I roasted it with garlic.

Thanks for the thorough explication of the finish to my game!!

I think it's very valuable to learn better "bell ringing" skills and I appreciate your time and care to be teaching me that.

Also, you were so right about me and my new computer. My Dad would have said the same thing to me.

Ok I'm a grown woman and you are a friend, a peer, and not my Dad.

But you really reminded me of him there.

I love my new computer so much.

Now that I know how to operate the new system.

It's got TWICE THE CPU!!

It's very fast.

And bigger and brighter picture.

I'm not sure of the details, but I believe I now enjoy <30,000 megawatt pixil compression>.

That means the picture on my <DIVX player> is better than on my TV.

A lot better.

In fact, it's HD.

Do you know what HD is? Because I don't. I have it though.

You're not jealous of my new <DIVX> player are you?

I don't want you to feel jealous.

Ok then.

Well I certainly look forward to the <f6> news-

I tell you in the case of my game I had an <idee fix> about pulling my DSB back to make a Battering Ram.

But I did take a long think at this juncture. I almost played <Bg5>.

BTW I'm trying to find <fawn pawn> games in our database but good luck. I want to make a Games Collection about them but how the heck do you find them?

So I tried randomly. I played through a bunch of games backwards to find them and I couldn't find a single one so far.

You see they don't happen until later in the Middle game, normally, so there's no such thing as a FAWN PAWN in our <Opening Explorer>.

Hmmmmm...

The definition of a <fawn pawn> is posted at the <Euwe Center>.

Kingscrusher likes to analyze them and I've used them to win more than a few games.

I think they are an underused resource.

Maybe. Actually how would I know.

Anyhoo, I like them because their value is "potential" and who knows if they are going to become important.

Point is- when they become important- it's usually decisive.

As it was for me last Saturday, I'm going to post that part of the game at <Niels'> house.

I have made several posts about <FAWN PAWNS> in my own games in the past.

Thanks for dropping that <f6> position study at my house.

I've just been playing on from the resigned position in that beautiful game by <Botox Injection> against my <Shredder>, as I so often do.

<Niels> told me to start doing that over a year ago and I find it works wonders for the confidence, and the learning of technique.

Anyhoo- I figured out how to win from the resigned position.

OK <Shredder> evaluates it at 4 and a half pawns White advantage.

???

This is interesting to me. Ok if White devises a proper plan to continue- and that's not hard, as you'll agree- this is a won game.

That is- I know 100 per cent that I'm going to win--even against Shredder on full blast. And I did. I just did it now. Took me a while though.

But there are TONS of positions that have a higher <Shredder> eval I can't win at all - Middle game positions with lots of pieces on the board for example.

And yet the numerical <eval> system doesn't take this into account- that the fewer pieces on the board (generally!), the easier it is for a human to make a winning plan that she can actually successfully execute against a strong chess engine.

So I give the resigned position here a "FUNCTIONAL EVAL" of <plus 400> for White.

Now when I got <Shredder> to this position- (I never let him resign when I'm doing these exercises-- heh)

click for larger view

Black to move--

OK the little box is saying <M2>- so it "knows" it's getting mated in two moves-

So why does it take <46 seconds> to make its move here? What is it actually <doing> for those 46 seconds? I can see the little CPU light whirring on my computer so I know it's doing <something>. But what, exactly? And why?

A bright 3 year old can "know" he cannot win here, and that he must just move his King- so he wouldn't take any time to think here.

But the computer's not thinking at all, is it?

It can sure whup me from the Start position though. It plays at a "2600+" level...

But it doesn't play anywhere near that level in certain positions. The fewer pieces on the board the worse it plays in fact.

Even on full blast.

It doesn't know it's going to lose. It doesn't know when it beats you. It doesn't know anything at all.

Stupid machine.

He's certainly been helpful to me though.

I love him!

But I don't respect him.

But I fear him!

Actually he reminds me of a few boyfriends I had.

OK thanks for helping me look for FAWN PAWNS <howard>.

Here's the Fritz analysis (which only took five seconds, but then I have a quad core):

click for larger view

1... Ka7 (1... Kc7 2. Qfc8# #0/0
(2. Qg7+ Kb8(2... Kd8 3. Qge7# #0/0)3. Qeg8# #0/0) (2. Qed6+ Kb7 3. Qfb8# #0/0))

Do the people in the UMAN game know that <hms>?

Such an announcement would make you a General over there in no time.

Dual cores are Colonels.

Only one processor and you are a 'grunt'.

No processors and you are officially classed as the 'enemy', and they all have orders to shoot on sight I think.

I don't know if I like this...

I think that a <quad core> means I have four <DIVX> players, so I shouldn't be jealous after all. Or maybe I'm wrong about what those letters mean.

I am rarely ahead of the curve on these things, but my computer guy at school has me convinced that you buy as much capacity as you can because otherwise you will have an obsolete machine by the time you get it home. He is not far wrong. On the other hand, obsolete machines work just fine for email, word processing, and lots of things that I do daily.