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May-27-10
 | | scormus: 55... Rxh5. Of course, after 56 Ra5+ Kb4 57 Rxh5 1/2-1/2 Terrible, to have taken so long to see it. For a while I thought CG had switched tactics, but it's yet another stalemate. Fom the comments I see B missed it, let's see what he played |
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| May-27-10 | | whiteshark: I knew the Bernstein-smyslov game, too. |
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| May-27-10 | | gofer: Black is a passed pawn down and is really only looking for a swindle or a draw. The draw is on offer, so
I think black will take it...
55 ... Rxh5
Now in most instances this sort of rook move would be disasterous. 56 Ra5+ Kd4 57 Rxh5 and black has just
lost a rook for a pawn, but in this case it is just about perfect, as white cannot take the rook without
creating a stalemate!
56 Ra5+ Kb4!
57 Rxh5 stalemate!
What are the alternatives for white? There are none that really scream out. So now black is just as likely to promote
as white is and so effectively the game is probably drawn anyway. I think that white probably offers a draw or accepts
the stalemate rather than taking this any further...
Time to check... |
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| May-27-10 | | zb2cr: The only reason I got this one was that I knew it was a puzzle and that <chessgames.com> was running a theme of "stalemate swindles" this week. |
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| May-27-10 | | CHESSTTCAMPS: In addition to the clue provided by the stalemate theme that has been running this week, a related rook and pawn ending trap quickly pointed me to the solution of today's puzzle. This is a trap that I have fallen into in bullet play more than once, I'm sorry to acknowledge. The position is similar to the following. White to play and blow it:
click for larger viewWhite wins handily with a little bit of thought, but with a clock ticking towards 0 it's very easy to fall into the trap: h6?? Rxh6!
Ouch! |
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| May-27-10 | | RandomVisitor: 31.Rf5 and 40.a3 might lead to earlier wins. |
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| May-27-10 | | Cibator: First saw this tactic at age 16, in a description of an endgame swindle attributed to Blackburne (can't recall any other details). I sprang it on someone myself, in a tournament game the following year, to snatch an ill-deserved draw. |
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| May-27-10 | | Eric Farley: Morozevich is just one of the many chess players -- they comprise 99% of all players of all categories -- that know the positions of all variations of all openings but wouldn't be able to win a Queen versus Rook pawnless ending! It's a rare player that studies endings, which are deemed boring by these "experts." If you don't believe me read Capablanca's "Last Lectures" and he'll corroborate what I've just said. One more piece of evidence: In 1978 there was a match between the computer program BELLE (designed by Ken Thompson) and GM Walter Browne. The initial position was a Q vs R ending. Browne had the Queen. With perfect endgame technique he could have won in 31 moves, but he didn't. He overstepped the 50-move limit and the game was drawn! |
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| May-27-10 | | johnlspouge: Thursday (Medium)
Shirov vs Morozevich, 2001 (55...?) Black to play and win.
Material: Down a P. The White Ra6 threatens Ph6, the capture leaving Black down 2P. A stalemate resource makes the variation 55…Rxh5 56.Ra5+ feasible for Black. Candidates (55...): Rxh5
55…Rxh5 56.Ra5 [else, R+P vs. R+P is a book draw]
56…Kb4
If White plays 57.Rxh5, he stalemates White. If not, the ending is a theoretical draw, e.g., 57.Ra4+ Kb5. |
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| May-27-10 | | A Karpov Fan: got it |
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| May-27-10 | | awfulhangover: I found it!!But of course, I knew it is stalemate week and black has a very strong move. Not that kind of things you know in a real game.
I love these stalemate puzzles! |
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| May-27-10 | | Patriot: Sure, it's "stalemate week", but the solution isn't that hard to find. I realize we have the advantage of knowing there's a stalemate, but objectively Rxh5 is one of those critical moves that should be examined as well as the skewer and resulting stalemate pattern. Moro should've found 55...Rxh5! easily but we have no idea what his circumstances were at the time. Maybe he was low on time...who knows? |
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| May-27-10 | | desiobu: Easy to spot knowing black is supposed to draw, but I doubt I'd find it OTB. |
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| May-27-10 | | Formula7: White is threatening Black's pawn on h6 and at first glance it seems there's no way to stop it. However, 55...Rxh5! draws because 56.Ra5+ Kb4 57.Rxh5 is stalemate. |
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| May-27-10 | | Creg: I agree and disagree with <Once> and a few others, though I like your <Once> explanation, very well said. However, when it comes to movies I agree. They tend to repeat themselves. I guess that is why as you get older you look for more independent, or off beat films, but I digress. Learning is a different scenario where pattern recognition is important. The more you learn the theme, or the gist of the lesson (for things outside of chess) the better you are at handling future problems. It is true, that for the more experienced these themes may seem redundant, but not everyone here is experienced. Then again, don't GM's continue to study the most rudimentary tactics, endgames, etc, throughout their careers? It may seem boring, but having these themes repeated throughout time actually benefit the learner. |
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| May-27-10 | | kevin86: 55...♖xh5 loses the rook to a skewer,but...
After 56 ♖a5+ ♔b4 57 ♖xh5 is stalemate
Thus, black wins the pawn and the draw is elementary. |
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| May-27-10 | | Kasputin: 55...Rxh5
It is not only necessary but perfectly safe to take this pawn. If 56. Ra5+ then ...Kb4 and it is a draw. If white captures the rook on h5 then the position is stalemated, and if white declines the capture then the position is completely drawish. Also white has nothing better then 56. Ra5+ in any case. |
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| May-27-10 | | zooter: I can see the stalemate trick here,
55...Rxh5 56.Ra5+ Kb4 57.Rxh5 stalemate, but is it really necessary for black? I guess so. There is no way to protect the h6 pawn and 2 pawns down would be really bad Time to check |
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| May-27-10 | | zooter: I would never have seen over the board this...probably I might have....but stalemate week definitely conditioned me here... |
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May-27-10
 | | al wazir: <Once: When you watch Avatar, what do you see? A few might see a straight science-fiction adventure film, but most will see echoes of earlier patterns ...> Pandora, the totally wired planet, was foreshadowed in Robert A. Heinlein's _Starman Jones_. The marines' fighting AMP suits are versions of the man-multiplying armor suits in Heinlein's _Starship Troopers_, right down to the "drop" from aircraft, and their glove controls are "waldoes" -- "Waldo F. Jones's Synchronized Reproducing Pantographs" -- from his _Waldo_. Heinlein should have gotten a screen credit. |
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| May-27-10 | | johnlspouge: < <Creg> wrote: [snip] It may seem boring, but having these themes repeated throughout time actually benefit the learner. > Overlearning is a well-recognized phenomenon for reinforcing memory. If you are not yet <completely> bored with stalemate week, you are still deriving benefit from it. In other words, if you are still posting instead of snoozing on your desktop, don't complain :) |
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May-27-10
 | | chrisowen: Alex to readdress, burn the pawn off. 55.Kb4 nooooo salvation is handy with Rxh5. Ask injury of Ra5+? Ratify in the second degree draw, mar
the lemon Kb4. Ah send winging rook ahead and raze the little grunt. Issue often is settled then. It is lovely seeing two titans at court
marshalling matters and missing stalemate again. White nets the point without a racket, if only black made haste with that Rxh5 and slung his arm. |
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| May-27-10 | | Once: <Creg> I don't disagree. Pattern recognition is a vitally important skill and it can be learnt and reinforced by repetition. But when we assess a chess position, we are using several skills. First we need to work out whether we are playing for a win or a draw. Then we need to decide which positional strategy or tactical device we want to employ. Then we need to identify candidate moves and assess our opponent's responses to each. And finally we need to decide which of our candidate moves to play. The beauty of a normal chessgames puzzle is that it makes us exercise all of these skills - the chess equivalent of a full body workout. All we know is who is to move. We don't know whether we are looking for a win, draw or even, rarely, a spoiler. I suppose their is a hierarchy of chess puzzles. The hardest is the CG default of "White to play." Somewhere in the middle is "white to play and win/ draw". And easiest of all is "White to play and win with a pin/ draw with a stalemate". I don't mind the CG theme of the week. But for me it is the chess equivalent of doing nothing but bench presses every day when I would like to spend at least some time with the Nordic ski machine. Heck, whatever CG does it good, so please don't interpret anything I saw as remotely complaining!! :-) |
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| May-27-10 | | Once: <al wazir: Heinlein should have gotten a screen credit.> Very well put, sir! Couldn't agree more. Mind you, if we credit him with this film, how many others ought we to include as well? I actually enjoyed the juxtaposition of the human powered suits, the computer controlled avatars and the way that the indigineous population were able to interface with horse/ eagle creatures. It was as if the three main protagonists each had their own form of avatars - mechanical, computer or organic. And didn't the flying machine things look as if they had been stolen from Pixar's the Incredibles? |
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| May-27-10 | | strobane: So, it's black to move and lose?
I could have come up with a lot of losing lines. |
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