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| Dec-10-06 | | technical draw: <chesslogician> The rook on h1 is the one that moves to d1.
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| Dec-31-06 | | Amulet: <technical draw: <chesslogician> The rook on h1 is the one that moves to d1.> In that case, both white rooks are gone, butchered by the Bishop for free. Is'nt it? |
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| Jul-12-07 | | kfkcapa2001: A game of ironies: a French Defense that from move eleven seems like an open game with open lines and piece activity (I bet White wanted more of that for his side); an "exposed" Black k-side with open g-file and c3-h8 diagonals that bests White's "secure" q-side; and an all too simple last move that fashions a perfect zugzwang. Bronstein in The Sorcerer's Apprentice points out that 15.♗c4 was needed not the mistake played. Also he notes that 22.♖e1 doesn't save White because of 22...♕g3 23.♖xe2, ♕e1+ busts White's weak back rank. Still, it's how everything comes together to that last move that appeals the most. "A beautiful finish." --Bronstein. Indeed, he makes beating a former World Junior Champion look easy. |
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Dec-06-08
 | | Fusilli: This has to be one of the most amazing final positions ever. Absolutely stunning. |
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| Jan-10-09 | | WhiteRook48: you don't want a pinned rook. |
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Apr-14-12
 | | Phony Benoni: And today's Game of the Day is titled, <Squeeze Play>. A matched set! And so close to the U.S. income tax deadline. This may be a candidate for the Immortal GOOT Game. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | dzechiel: Black to move (24...?). Material even. "Very Difficult." At first glance this seems black has a slight advantage. True, black has a rook on the seventh rank, and the knight is pinned, but the real weakness in white's position are the doubled, isolated c-pawns. This allows black to put on a "squeeze" (which is very much like zugzwang). Black starts things off with...
24...Rxd2 25 Rxd2 Rd8 26 Rd1 c4!
Now black can site back and run white out of moves (the squeeze) and finally white will have to give up a whole rook, leaving him down a piece. I doubt that white played it out, as the a-, g- and h-pawns can each be pushed a couple of times as black blockades them, then the white king will have to move to the b-file and a white rook will come off the board. Time to check and see how this finished up. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | consul: Seriously?
The moves were quite obvious to me... |
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Apr-14-12
 | | FSR: No way is this Difficult/Very Difficult - though no doubt it helps that I've seen it several times before. 24...Rxd2! 25.Rxd2 Rd8 26.Rd1 c4! (stopping White from unpinning with c4, c3 and Kc2). White is in zugzwang and must eventually move his king, dropping the rook on d2 and leaving him a piece down. Incidentally, 26...b5! 27.c4 b4! would also work. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | King Death: They can call this one "Difficult" or or "Very Difficult" until the cows come home but 24...Rd2 25.Rd2 Rd8 26.Rd1 c4 just wins, White runs out of moves soon enough. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | tcoxon39: 24. ... Rxd2
25. Rxd2 Rd8
White's rook is a sitting duck. Only defense is
26. Rd1
From here black need only advance his queen-side pawns until he can force white to move his king and take the rooks. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | WinKing: Found this a tad easier than yesterday's puzzle. Black locks up white's rooks & king. 24...Rxd2
25.Rxd2 Rd8
26.Rhd1 c4! <(essentially freezing white's rooks & king - he could resign here)> A plausible finish might be...
27.g3 <(what else? nothing but pawn moves available)> 27...a5
28.g4 a4
29.h4 Bf4
30.h5 h6
31.a3 <(& white is out of moves - he will now begin losing material)> Curious to see what Kaplan played for his 27th move. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | sevenseaman: Equal with 9 a-piece.
First thoughts: Black having a well-positioned B already seems to to be in the ascendancy. Its a Saturday. Nevertheless my patzer view is;
the d5 R can be tied up at d2 for as long as Black needs to bring some extra pressure. White N looks to be in a bind (up a s**t creek w/o a paddle) and Black has total power to arrange that it is only replaced into that hapless position by someone higher in the White hierarchy! Once Black R comes to d8, the other R too will be tied up at d1 w/o let. Sadly, the K too will be unable to move away. So we have a major piece monolith here which is going to be as active as a lump of jelly for a long, long time. ( Never seen something like this in GM play before) My line is;
<24...Rxd2 25. Rxd2 Rd8 26. Rd1 c4> and Black can take his own sweet time to bring in whatever he needs to break <White's> lockjaw. 
click for larger viewIf you want to play chess never let your R be pinned by a sly B. The diagonal could be a hundred miles longer, the B will continue to be a pain in the ...er neck. |
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Apr-14-12
 | | Jimfromprovidence: Technically, the ending position below is one of non-reciprocal zugzwang because black wins no matter whose turn it is to move.
click for larger view
This is because black has unlimited reserve tempi.
Thank you John Nunn!
Hoping against hope, one trick white can try is 27 g4, praying for 27...f5?? 
click for larger viewWhite now wins with 28 g5. |
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Apr-14-12
 | | al wazir: I saw right away that the sequence Bronstein played (24...Rxd2 25. Rxd2 Rd8, with 29. Rd1 now forced) would leave white locked forever in a rigor-mortis-like bind, and presumably after ...Rd7, the black ♔ can make its way along the rank and then forward to nibble on white's queenside ♙s. But since this is an endgame I think I could manage to lose the game from either side. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | rilkefan: 26...Kg7 is also easily won. I wasn't sure whether there was any real reason to play ...c4 over that. For some reason stockfish prefers the former to the latter even looking at a depth of 33, though when I play the move for it, it quickly decides it's better. Somehow 27.g4 Bf4 (instead of ...Kg7, when 28.g5 Bxg5 29.Rg1 is much less good) seems to take a while to sink in. I'm not convinced the search algorithm at depth takes into account early branches sensibly. I suspect one needs to see 27.g4 Bf4 in the ...c4 line for full credit if one is a real stickler. In the ...Kg7 line this isn't an issue because the rooks are exchanged and the black king eats the white kingside. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | rilkefan: I sang the pun song (Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard") to my sons just yesterday. Except I said "Pomona" instead of "Corona" due to my aging neurons and living in California. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | sevenseaman: <non-reciprocal zugzwang >! Hmm...goes clean over my head; 'own sweet time' is what you are alluding to, eh? In reality Black is a R exchange down, but its a case of 'buy one, get one free'. I was wondering if <jimfromprovidence> or <Phony Benoni> (or anyone else) could consult their library minds/archives and dig out a similar instance in master play. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | Once: <rilkefan> Isn't the point of 26...c4 that it stops white from playing c4-c3-Kc2 and escaping from the bind? I think black can win without 26...c4 because he gets a chance to advance his king while white is spending these three moves freeing himself. But it seems cleanest to lock everything down and not give white any hope at all. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | LJLMETAL: All Black has to do now is lock up the pawns, and the white king to move. After that, black is up a piece |
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| Apr-14-12 | | vinidivici: lol...why bother....i would done Rxg2...lol. its also a win. For the GMs they prefer the elegant style like this. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | rilkefan: <Once>: sure, but in the c4 line black's king is later in getting to the white kingside or queenside pawns, which decides the game; and one still needs to worry about tricks, such as 26...c4 27.g4 Kg7 28.g5. It's a question (I think) of whether one prefers to win by zugzwang forcing material gain or king position winning material. I imagine ...c4 is the GM move, but ...Kg7 has its own elegance. |
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Apr-14-12
| | Jimfromprovidence: <sevenseaman> I found the term from Nunn's book Nunn's Chess Endings Volume I. Here is another example of non-reciprocal zugzwang.
click for larger viewWhite wins no matter whose turn it is to play (because he has the waiting move Kc7 but black has no waiting moves). In reciprocal zugzwang, the result of the position differs according to who moves first, such as the one below. 
click for larger viewIf white moves he draws, but if black moves, white wins. |
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Apr-14-12
| | Phony Benoni: <sevenseaman> If you want another non-reciprocal zugzwang, take a look at B Harper vs R Zuk, 1971, the infamous "Tomb Game". Wonderfully humorous. Note how Black calmly shifts his king around, waiting for White to run out of pawn moves. |
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| Apr-14-12 | | Swedish Logician: I got it - Rxd2, Rd8 and c4 established a zugzwang - but will cliam no credit; I remembered the posititon which was prominently feautred in the Chess magazines in 1975 and I seem to recall the GM Keene has the game in one of his opening repertoire books .... |
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Kibitzing
sac: 24...Rxd2