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Rosendo Balinas vs Joel Benjamin
2nd Lloyds Bank Masters Open (1978), London ENG, rd 1, Aug-24
Catalan Opening: General (E00)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-29-04  capablancakarpov: 128. Kh8, what a blunder, the king in the middle of the h square and is draw.
May-29-04  Everett: capablancakarpov, it's not a blunder.
128...Kh6 129 Rg2 wins the knight or it's checkmate. Improvements need to be found for black before move 128.
Jun-20-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sneaky: I "tablebased" this position to see the truth and here's the scoop (I will put the moves actually played above in <gold> for easy reading.)

After <115. Kf6!!> Black gets mated in 26 moves with perfect play.

after <115...Nh5+> (about as good as any move) White has only two winning continuations, <116.Kg5!> (as in this game) and 116.Kf5! (Because other moves let the Black king get off the rim.)

Then comes <116...Ng7 117.Ra7> which is a good move but 117.Ra5 is actually much quicker.

Then Black played <117...Kg8>, an easy move to pick because 117...Kh8?? 118.Kg6 is mate in two.

Now here's where you have to take your hat off for this Rosendo Carrean Balinas fellow. Can you believe that <118.Kf6!!> is the *only* move that wins the game?? It's true! For example is 118.Kg6 Black plays 118...Ne8 and White can no longer make progress (119.Ra8 is stalemate).

<118...Ne8+ 119.Ke7> Ke6 also works <119...Ng7> offers the best resistance <120.Ra5 Kh7 121.Kf8!> but not 121.Kf7? where ...Kh6 draws.

<121...Ne6+> on 121...Kg6 simply 122.Ra6+ wins <122.Kf7 Nd8+ 122.Kf6> Ke7?? Nc7+ doh! <122...Nc6 124.Rd5 Nb4 125.Rd7+ Kg8 126.Rd4 Nc2 127.Rg4+ Kh7 128.Rg7+> no mistakes in any of these moves.

And here Black plays <128...Kh6> because as Everett points out 128...Kh8(?) 129.Rg2 wins outright,

<129.Kg6 Nd4 130.Ra7> all forced, and with mate on the next move.

For those who don't know, "tablebase" is a database of endgame positions which is so exhastive that when there is 5 or fewer pieces on the board it truly plays the game with godlike perfection. The online tablebase I use is here http://www.lokasoft.nl/uk/tbweb.htm

Nov-23-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: <Sneaky> <Can you believe that <118.Kf6!!> is the *only* move that wins the game??> Wow, just amazing. Thanks for your post.
Dec-16-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  louispaulsen88888888: That was very helpful yes

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