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Lawrence Day vs Arthur Bisguier
"The Longest Day" (game of the day Jun-20-2020)
Lone Pine (1979), Lone Pine, CA USA, rd 2, Mar-26
King's Gambit: Declined. Classical Variation (C30)  ·  0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
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Aug-03-07  Benzol: <IMlday> I have a booklet by Murray Chandler on Lone Pine 1979 and it has the extra moves 126.♕a8+ ♔g7 and then 0-1 in the score of this game. Did these extra moves actually transpire?
Aug-03-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  IMlday: I don't recall but I'd guess yes and I didn't write them down.
Aug-03-07  Benzol: <IMlday> OK, thanks for your response.

:)

Aug-03-07  RookFile: Tough game!
Sep-09-07  Capablanca44: A Queen ending always requires intricate handling because of the many squares any Queen can get to. There was a lot of technique used in this endgame. I found it very enlightening.
Sep-09-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: Tablebases show a draw with 61 Qb3+ instead of 61 Qh3+, but I don't know why.

Three squares on the diagonal, but one draws and one loses.

Sep-10-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: Oops. I misread the tablebase. White still has a draw with 61 Qh3+ as well as 61 Qb3+ or even 61 Qa6+.

It must have been incredibly difficult to play since the move the tablebase says is a mistake 69 Qf1+ loses in 83 moves with best play.

White would have to find the quiet move 69 Qb2 or 69 Kf7 to keep the draw.

Jun-10-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: The finish of this marathon is given as 125....Kg8 126.Qa8+ Kg7 0-1, per <Benzol>, though from a different source. Had to be an utterly enervating game.
Jan-11-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: "The Longest Day"
Jan-11-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  moronovich: Nice pun <OCF> !
Jun-20-20  andrewjsacks: Whew!
Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: Imaginative pun. Not the usual.
Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: Someone was clever enough to save this for the first day of Summer.
Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: Day certainly doesn't believe in early resignations.
Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: <Annie> is quite the clever one.
Jun-20-20  Ironmanth: Onerous!
Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <Tamar> FWIW the position after 46...Kxd6


click for larger view

... is a theoretical draw per the 7-piece Lomonosov tablebases after 47.b4. What tablebases did you use?

Sorry <IMlday>. But you should be proud to have put up such a stubborn defense against Bisguier.

And I now always say "theoretical" because in a game between human players, particularly in a long game like this one where exhaustion is a factor, and even between the best chess engines, the two players don't necessarily always play the best moves.

For confirmation (in case a second opinion is needed) the FinalGen tablebase generator estimates that it will need a reasonable (or at least not unreasonable for it) about 3 hours and about 75 GB of uncompressed disk space to reach a definitive conclusion. I'll report on what it says when it's done.

Jun-20-20  GlennOliver: To answer the question from <Jesuitic Calvinist> all those years ago, I think that 54. Na2 yields a draw quite quickly e.g.

54. Na2 Nb6 55. Kd6 a3 56. b5 f5 57. Ke5 Nc4+ 58. Kf4 Kc2 59. Nb4+ Kb3 60. Nd3 a2 61. Nc1+ Ka3 62. Nxa2 Kxa2 63. Kxf5 Kb3 64. Kg5 Kb4 65. Kg4 Kxb5

Jun-20-20  Cheapo by the Dozen: Looking at the anecdotes from 2004, I am reminded of the time I told GM Kashdan -- who as so often was Tournament Director -- that I'd just taken a grandmaster draw in the California Junior Championship. He did not approve.

In the same tournament, I played one of those long games that people gather around to watch, fueled by small Nestles chocolate bars somebody had provided, and eventually lost. I took the Under -14 prize even so ... but as it says in my bio, there was an amazing dearth of talent in my age cohort.

Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: OK, here is FinalGen's analysis after a very reasonable (for FinalGen) 1.5 hrs:

47.Nb3 Draw
47.Nb7+ Draw
47.Ke3 Draw
47.Kf5 Draw
47.Kg4 Draw
47.Kg4 Draw
47.b4 Draw
47.Kf3 Black wins in 40
47.Kg3 Black wins in 32
47.b3 Black wins in 31
47.Nc6 Black wins in 11

So <IMlday>'s 47.Kf5 should have drawn, the mistake would have had to be made later. But I don't know if I have the motivation to run multiple FinalGen analyses in order to determine where the losing move was made!

I should clarify that as far as FinalGen is concerned a "win" exists when one side or the other achieves a decisive material advantage after, for example, queening a pawn. It does not reflect the number of moves required to mate.

Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <Finding the Losing Move> (part 1 of 3)

However, I realized that I didn't have to run FinalGen in other positions. I could use the Lomonosov tablebases and do a binary-like search between 47.Kf5 which both the Lomonosov tablebases and FinalGen indicated was a Draw after the played 47...a6 and the game's final move 126...Kg7. I technically should run FinalGen again to verify that White has no escape (although it should be obvious) but there are too many pieces on the board (3 queens, and only 1 piece exclusive of kings and pawns are allowed for each side). But, a queen up, it should be obvious that the position is a win for Black.

But, just to make sure, Stockfish indicates that Black mates in 7 after 127.Qb7 and all other White moves result in mate in a lesser number of moves. And it reached d=120 while displaying the top 10 moves in less than 2 minutes. So, match that with your high powered system <RandomVisitor>! :-)

At any rate I did a binary-like search to try to bracket the moves that resulted in a Draw and a win for Black. It wasn't that straightforward because some moves resulted in a win for Black but they might have been drawn due to the 50-move draw rule, but I was just too lazy to verify that no pawns had been moved or no pieces captured within 50 moves. So make those Black wins conditional on the 50-move draw rule being satisfied. And remember that all wins and draws are "theoretical" since they assume best play by both sides at all times, something that's not likely to happen in a long game between two human players like this one.

In case you just want to know the result, I think that White's losing move was either:

(a) <69.Qf1+>. After 68...Kf4 White could have drawn after 69.Qb2 but after the move actually played, 69.Qf1+, Black can mate in 82 moves. But after the move actually played by Black, 69...Qf3, White had a draw after 70.Qg1. So a case of double inaccuracies by each side.

(b) <71.Kg7> Black mates in 52 moves after the played 71...f4. Period.

If you want to know the details as to how I arrived at these conclusions, you'll just have to read my next two posts. I should add that Black made some inaccuracies that would have delayed mate and both players made a mistake in moves 68 and 69 that could have changed the outcome of the game.

Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <Finding the Losing Move> (part 2 of 3)

Here are the results in ascending move order with the second column highlighting the order in which the positions were evaluated and the third column showing the tablebase result after the move was played. It shows how the game transitions from being a Draw to a win by Black in a successively decreasing number of moves.

47.Kf5 <1> Draw after the played 47…a6.

57.b7 <5> Draw after 57…f5. Also draw after the played 57…a1Q

62.Qh4+ <7> Draw after 62…Qe4. Also draw after the played 62…Kd5.

64...Ke5 <9> Draw after 64.Qd6+. Also draw after the played 64…Kd5.

67.Qe1+ <4> Draw after the played 67…Qe4.

68.Qa1 <16> Draw after 68…Qd4. After the played 68…Kf4, also Draw.

68...Kf4 <11> Draw after 69.Qb2. But after the played 68.Qf1, Black mates in 82.

69.<Qf1+> <12> Black mates in 83 after 69…Kg5. But after the played 69…Qf3, it's a Draw.

69...Qf3 <10> Draw after 70.Qg1. But after the played 70.Qc1+, Black mates in 52.

70.<Qc1+> <13> Black mates in 52 after the played 70…Kg4.

70.Kg4 <14> Black mates in 51 after 71.Qb1. After the played 71.Kg7, Black mates in 49.

71.Kg7 <15> Black mates in 49 after the played 71…f4.

72.Kf6 <8> Black mates in 48 after 72…Kh3. After the played 72…Qe3, Black also mates in 48.

77.Kg6 <6> Black mates in 44 after 77…Qd5. After the played 77…Qe8+ Black mates in 45.

87.Kc6 <3> Black mates in 28 after 87.Qe6+. After the played 87.Qc3+, Black mates in 34.

126...Kg7 <2> Black mates in 7 after 127.Qb7.

Jun-20-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <Finding the Losing Move> (part 3 of 3)

And here is the search sequence I used to find when the position changed from a Draw to a win for Black. The first column highlights the order in which the positions were evaluated and it shows the binary-like sequence of the evaluations. The second column is the move played and the third column is the result after that move is played.

<1> 47.Kf5 Draw after the played 47…a6.

<2> 126...Kg7 Black mates in 7 after 127.Qb7.

<3> 87. Kc6 Black mates in 28 after 87.Qe6+. After the played 87.Qc3+, Black mates in 34.

<4> 67.Qe1+ Draw after the played 67…Qe4.

<5> 57.b7 Draw after 57…f5. Also draw after the played 57…a1Q

<6> 77.Kg6 Black mates in 44 after 77…Qd5. After the played 77…Qe8+ Black mates in 45.

<7> 62.Qh4+ Draw after 62…Qe4. Also draw after the played 62…Kd5 . <8> 72. Kf6 Black mates in 48 after 72…Kh3. After the played 72…Qe3, Black also mates in 48.

<9> 64...Ke5 Draw after 64.Qd6+. Also draw after the played 64…Kd5.

<10> 69...Qf3 Draw after 70.Qg1. But after the played 70,Qc1+, Black mates in 52.

<11> 68...Kf4 Draw after 69.Qb2. But after the played 68.Qf1, Black mates in 82.

<12> 69.<Qf1+> Black mates in 83 after 69…Kg5. But after the played 69…Qf3, it's a Draw.

<13> 70.<Qc1+ > Black mates in 52 after the played 70…Kg4.

<14> 70...Kg4 Black mates in 51 after 71.Qb1. After the played 71.Kg7, Black mates in 49.

<15> 71.Kg7 Black mates in 49 after the played 71…f4.

<16> 68. Qa1 Draw after 68…Qd4. After the played 68…Kf4, also Draw.

Jun-20-20  Honey Blend: Also good to note that it's almost summer solstice, which is <The Longest Day> in the northern hemisphere.
May-19-25  GumboGambit: With this game being so long, it’s easy to overlook the rare <Soldatenkov Variation> of the KGD Opening: 4.fxe5
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