|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 12 OF 112 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
May-13-10
 | | Fusilli: How to teach a kid to play chess.
Maybe they always do this. I have no idea because I don't teach. But here's what I was thinking. 1) Teach them king and queen movement, and mate with KQ v K. 2) Teach them all pawn moves, up to promotion, but only promotion to queen. Make them play lots of games with different set ups of King and pawns versus King and pawns. 3) Keep introducing the pieces, one at a time: rook, bishop, knight. Every time make them play lots of training games without the pieces they don't know yet. Also show them problems and tactics all along, always for the pieces they know only. I was wondering if such a system would create a strong base for bare bones pawn endgames and the most typical rook endgames. On the other hand, could this system make the player weak at handling bishops and knights, only because they came into the picture last? |
|
May-17-10
| | Fusilli: Endgame puzzle
Karpov vs Polugaevsky, 1983
Position after 52.Bc7:
click for larger viewHere Polugaevsky played 52...N4xa5. The move is considered the losing blunder by most posters on the game's page. However, it is not. Polugaevsky could have still drawn after 53.Nxa5. How? |
|
| May-17-10 | | hms123: <Mariano> Once you ask the question, there's only one possible answer--<Nd4+> followed by <Ne6> and <Kxa5>. Black will want to hold on to the knight because his king is too far away from the rook file to be of any use in the pawn ending. |
|
May-17-10
| | Fusilli: <H> Of course. But Polugaevsky blundered! In the game page there was a spirited debate on whether the game had been fixed. Even though it's hard to believe Polu blundered this way, I do not believe in the throwing-the-game hypothesis here. |
|
| May-17-10 | | hms123: <Mariano> I agree. The recapture doesn't seem all that bad--and no one is sitting there telling him that this move is really important--it's your last chance to draw the game. |
|
May-18-10
| | Fusilli: ROLLER COASTER
D Lemos vs C Vernay, 2010
Position after 18.e4:
click for larger view18...Nc5!?
click for larger view19.dxc5 Bxc5+ 20.Kh1 h4
click for larger view21.g4 (if 21.Bf4? hxg3)
click for larger view21...Qg3!
click for larger view22.Rg1 Bd6
click for larger view23.e5! Bxe5 24.Rxg3 hxg3
click for larger view25.Bh7!! and White wins. (Now 25...g2+ 26.Kg1 Bd4+ meets 27.Be3) |
|
May-18-10
 | | jessicafischerqueen: <Marianas Trench>
Thanks very much for the recommendation of "Outliers" which I will indeed be buying and reading whilst on summer vacation. You are correct about Korean demographics- my co-teacher feels it's his "national duty" to procreate, but like all other Korean teachers he doesn't make much money and could never support a large family. Also, since urbanization, the preference for a male child has sharply diminished here. They've dealt with this "problem" by paving over some of the best alluvial soil in Asia. No worries! They can just buy rice from Vietnam.
In the meantime, the farming class, repository of traditional Confucian culture, has almost been wiped out altogether- in one generation. The Government bought them out= by force- at cut rate prices. Then they resold the land to private developers at a hefty profit. And why not? They can use this profit to pay for welfare for the dispossessed farmers. Korea: Land of the Confused.
Yes, they treat me very differently because I'm a foreigner- but only because I'm white. I'm almost untouchable because of this fact.
If you are white in Korea, you will get preferential treatment by virtually everyone, including people who secretly hate you and would like to see you deported. Thus, I face less sexism here than in Canada, which is really perverse, because they treat the women distinctly as second class citizens here, much worse than is current practice in Canada. Koreans worship America, and Americans. It's the national sport and a guarantee that their traditional culture will be extinct in less than fifty years. Like Canadian culture is now extinct.
Gone, none left that's it.
And no, "poutine" is not culture, at least not by itself. |
|
May-19-10
| | Fusilli: <JFQ, much more than a backup airport for those who couldn't fly to JFK> Wow, that's very enlightening. I also read somewhere that Korea has the largest evangelical megachurches in the world. They are even copying that from America. Except gender equality, that is. Well, not that America is perfectly gender equal, but you get the idea. Canadian culture... Canadian culture... doesn't ring a bell. I guess it is extinct. I am familiar with Canadian moose, Canadian pine, Canadian health care, Canadian hockey, and Richard McGregor, the Canadian dude who has his office down the hallway from mine and teaches Religious Studies, who is quite nice, actually (http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/relig...)... but no, Canadian culture, never heard of it. But again, I am very ignorant of a bunch of important things. I tend to have never heard of people, places, or things that turn out to be ultrafamous, so maybe Canadian culture is big. You remind me of a Sarah Silverman line. She says something like "let's stop labeling people, and let us be what we really are. I don't want to be thought of as a woman, or as Jewish... or as anything. I just want to be recognized for what I am. (Pause.) White." She is hilarious. Hey, how long have you been in SK, and how much longer are you going to be there? Sounds like a fascinating culture to see (or to witness go extinct). |
|
May-19-10
| | jessicafischerqueen: <JFQ, much more than a backup airport for those who couldn't fly to JFK> lol
Well yes- but our estimable Torontonian friend <BenjiBirthofaNation> came up with a spirited argument before that Canadian culture still exists. I remain skeptical. I think that there are probably more cultural differences between regions within the US than there are between "the US" and Canada. Also, having lived in Quebec for almost three years, I can tell you that there is most definitely a "French Canadian culture" that is conservative, feisty, non-English speaking, and based largely on having hot dogs and Tim Horton's doughnuts for breakfast whilst chain smoking. Montreal is a "no smoking city" but nobody would dare try to enforce this curious law in the East End. I have just downloaded all of <Sarah Silverman's Program> based on your recommendation. I've been in <The Republic of South Korea> for three years and since I'm actually learning to speak Korean now I may as well just stay. Plus they keep giving me a big raise every time I re-sign my contract. This is largely because almost no westerner can stand living here and well over 90% of foreign English teachers go home after one year. It costs a schoolboard 0.0 dollars to rehire a foreign teacher but up to six thousand dollars or more to hire a new one. For this reason, it is virtually impossible to get fired. After my first year, 4 of us re-signed, including one chap whose school had given him this recommendation, which he happily quoted for us right off the page: "Under no circumstances do we ever want this person to come near our school again." That was unintentionally humorous due to Korean problems with English idiom. They meant "We really don't want him teaching here at our school any more" but I like their version better. At any rate they just dumped him at a different school. Korea indeed still has an utterly fascinating culture. It's Asian!
Who knew?
If you go in to the mountains it looks the same as it did 1,500 years ago. Temples, family burial mounds, trees, and nut-brown people who have no interest in speaking English or watching American TV shows. I'll tell you what else, no foreigners will even nod their head hello when they see other foreigners. I suspect this is because they are (rightly) terrified that if they acknowledge the existence of another foreigner he/she might glom on to them "THANK GOD YOU CAN SPEAK ENGLISH I'M SO LONELY PLEASE BE MY FRIEND" etc. Ok how long till you go on your odyssey?
You are going to do some field work right?
In the Amazon, or Macchu Picchu? |
|
May-19-10
| | jessicafischerqueen: Oh yes and almost forgot- yes the Christian Church is spreading here, represented by every single denomination and sect in Christendom. However, after three years I've discovered something: although good Korean translations of the Bible exist, none of the Christian kids at my school know what's inside of it. This is mainly because their local Priest/Pastor/Proclaimer tells them they don't need actually to read it. Instead, they give them snippets from the Four Gospels. Mainly they sing songs and learn how Buddhists are followers of the Devil. This is not only alarming but odd- the "catechism" of all these Korean Churches seems to be very brief and very univocal. The differences between Christian sects are not carried over here. This means that in practical terms, there's only one Christian Church here. Some examples: Mormon kids don't know who Joseph Smith was. Episcopalian kids don't know what "The Protestant Church" is. None of the kids are aware that the first part of The Bible is in fact a Jewish Holy Book. Almost none of the kids have heard of the Holocaust.
Add all this with a slavish devotion among the Christian (and all other) youth to pedophilic, pornographic pop videos copied directly from American culture, and you get an ominous recipe for future catastrophe. Just what kind of catastrophe, however, I couldn't say. |
|
May-19-10
| | Fusilli: <JFQ> So you are staying, or thinking of staying, forever. Ha! Now it sounds scary. Now that you read the word "forever" dropped in that sentence about your whole future life, so casually. Not so terrible. When I got tenure, I decided that my next house was going to be my house for two and a half decades (at least), since I am going to be in Nashville at least until I retire, or until I die, whichever comes first. That was not a good way to look at it. It made house hunting, and the purchase of the house we finally purchased, feel like the ultimate stress test. What if we fail, and we buy a lousy house, and then we are stuck there *forever*? It should have not been that way. After all, buying a house is a trivial thing. It's just a space to live. And it costs you just a few hundred dollars. No reason to sweat about it, we (Kristin, me, and Fusilli) decided, and we just bought a good house. Now, if it turns out to be awesome, well, yeah, until I retire or die, whichever comes first. Ah, yeah, back to you. Thank chess. It gave you patience. Or maybe it's reverse causality. Whatever, it helps. Endurance, resilience, and patience are virtues. You can play 100-move endgames without falling asleep. I gather you don't lean toward hanging out with other foreigners. And your Korean language proficiency is limited. So, who do you hang out with? English-speaking Korean friends? I am in fact in the middle of a pre-fieldwork trip. Driving around the Dominican Republic, checking out mid-size towns for my research (a survey experiment, long story). I am in San Pedro de Macoris, in the South, on the Caribbean sea, right now. Today I checked out a couple of towns in the East. Tomorrow I am heading North, until I find sea again. The Dominican Republic is a fascinating place to me. Hard to say why, but it is. I did fieldwork here as a grad student, in the summer of 1999, and briefly again in 2000. Perhaps it's the people. Dominicans are extremely positive, helpful, welcoming. I look forward to hear your friend's performance evaluation for the academic year that just finished (did it?) Maybe they'll keep renewing his contract until he runs out of schools. Then he can always try North Korea! |
|
| May-24-10 | | Albertan: Great point Mariano! This time control change has really reduced the quality of chess! I am sure like myself you have noticed a change in your performance in chess tournaments since the time change has occurred. I know someone in Alberta who used to be over 2300 elo and now is just above 2100 because he loved to think and used almost every second on his clock.His style has taken a big hit out of his rating due to the new time control. (200 points difference due to the time control!!).This is a player I played a blindfold game against while he was also playing two other blindfold games. He beat all 3 of us with out even breaking a sweat in these games, yet now the time control is killing his rating! < In addition, when you run> <Botvinnik's, Smyslov,Petrosian's,> <of course Tal's, and so many other> <legendary players' games through>
<our modern engines, the computers> <report mistakes all the time, at> <least if we will call a "mistake">
< to repeatedly fail to play the best> <move. And the criticisms of Topalov> <for being too computer-based? What> <kind of nonsense is that? On the one> <hand, we admit the superiority of> <computers, and on the other hand we> <criticize a superGM who tries to>
play like one?>
<Sigh...>
Yes and all of the players you mentioned above in the last paragraph had the benefit of playing with the old time control...yet still they made all of these errors! Mistakes are a part of chess. ..human chess, humans get tired machines do not,that is why one day a program or computer will become World Chess Champion. Topalov too computer-based? I find that alot of nonsense...where is the proof of this? Karpov admitted
in an article I read about him, that sometimes he deliberately did not play the "best move" in a position, just to see the reaction of his opponent, and for psychological
purposes! And he became a world chess champion with this approach!!! He can only follow computer analysis for so long in a game and then he is on his own! And I have shown on my computer that even Deep Rybka 3 makes errors in analysis in positions! Computer programmers are not usually chess players,they can only program a computer to play chess so well.Certain key aspects of playing chess well are due to personality and "human instincts,which can never be included in a computer program unless human brain engrams can be placed in such a program (Remember the Old Star trek series one program in which that doctor put his brain engrams in a computer? :) Chess programs have become too important in chess, especially top-level chess. Did you hear that Topalov spent 10,000 Euros to get the use of Deep Rybka 4 on a on a 112 core computer cluster, for his match against Anand? Mariano, thanks for the interesting conversation, have a good week! |
|
| May-24-10 | | Albertan: Well according to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method...
he is the number four rated player of all time (in the Table of top 20 rated players ever, with date their best ratings were first achieved (not counting inflation)).That shows he is one of the best of all time! You might find this analysis of top players in history interesting (which used the program Rybka):http://web.zone.ee/chessanalysis/su...
I have two chessbase DVD's concerning Anand's rise in the chess world,and these videos show Anand to be level-headed and also lacking the big ego of other players such as Gary K! You just can't imagine how quickly Anand calculates variations in these videos,which shows that even at age 40, he has lost little of his ability and talent for the game! <Carlsen will most likely be champion one day, all right, but he is not the champion yet.> Well maybe, you never know what he has learned from Kasparov. You have to wonder if Carlsen is motivated, as he does have business contracts which unlike other top GM's guarantees him a nice income. <I am also tired of comparisons to the great legends of the past. To begin, those great legends had MUCH MORE <TIME to think their moves than current GMs.> |
|
| May-24-10 | | Albertan: <The era of living legends battling for the highest title
< may be over,but there is still a world title match to>
<look forward to this month.Unlike the last two world championship> <matches, this year>
<there are reasonable doubts as to whether we are seeing the best> <players in the world. If you compare <Anand's and Topalov's past year> <of results to those of Carlsen and Kramnik, you might wonder if the> <wrong players are facing off in Sofia.> Hmm well he is entitled to his opinion,however what proof can he cite? Anand and Topalov got to the match, and Carlsen and Kramnik didn't that is all that matters. I think by saying something like this Kasparov once again shows he is opinionated, and often very emotional,He is also expressing favoritism:after all he was coaching Carlsen and he also had a relationship with Kramnik in the past!Kramnik could not defeat Shirov in a match either, and yet he found himself in a WC match against Kasparov because Kasparov had said some bad things about Shirov and as a result no one wanted to give funding to the match! <I am kind of tired of reading comments like this suggesting Anand is>
< not a worthy world champion.> I am too Mariano! Especially from Kasparov! I am glad he is gone from
chess.Ironically Jennifer Shahade (who was taking with Kasparov live
today during the coverage of the US Chess championship today) made
a statement that made me sick...suggesting that Chess has lost
something without Kasparov being involved anymore!! Kasparov was
only interested in his own interests and getting as much money and
publicity for himself as he could! I was looking at some old new
in Chess magazines the other day and I stopped doing it because every time I opened up a magazine it was something written about Kasparov or
something written by Kasparov! LOL Anand is as worthy as anyone, and he also had to react to this decision by Topalov not to offer draws to each other directly,which I think is poor sportsmanship on the part of Topalov! <The guy won Mexico solo, beat <Kramnik soundly in their match, and> <now beat Topalov. In no case did he <have to go to tie breaks.> Exactly, his record speaks for itself!
And Anand even used openings, such as
the Catalan, that Topalov must have
had more insight into before the match than Anand did! <OK, I don't think Anand is a> <candidate to be the best world chess> <player ever, but I do think he >
<deserves to be the current champion.> |
|
| May-24-10 | | Albertan: <Fusilli: Hey there, Wayne. Did you> <happen to see GK article on Smyslov in NIC?> Hiya, Mariano, no I didn't see the article I don't subscribe anymore,the magazine has lost something to what it used to be, plus they seem to think that subscribers like to here certain GM's and their profanity,which I feel is unprofessional of them. Also,they no longer have as many annotated games as they used to.They didn't even contact me to renew my membership either! Our local chess club had a
subscription to the magazine but
cancelled it as well.
<In that article he says a couple of> <things about the match between> <Topalov and Anand (of course he was> <writing before the match happened)
:>
Interesting! I would like to read it
sometime if our local chess club
subscribes to the magazine again soon! |
|
May-24-10
| | Fusilli: Hi <Wayne>, good to see you back! Yes, I do think I have suffered from shorter time controls, but I think I suffered more from the grueling schedules of open tournaments in the US. I would rather play a quiet weekly game at the local club, if my club decided to host an appropriate tournament. The sudden death time control is especially difficult for me. From my youth years I was used to getting into time trouble and playing moves 35-40 very fast, but I knew that after that I would be able to breath deeply and resume thinking. Now, sooner or later, all games can end in blitzing... Hmmm... Interesting to see your perspective on NIC. I only subscribed some months ago because I got tired of the rather too basic chess level, and poor international coverage, of Chess Life. I like the annotated games by top GMs in NIC. And I did not experience the overwhelming presence of GK. I think I subscribed after that was over. I am glad you value players' moral integrity and sportsmanship. So do I. In my opinion, GK was the best player in history, and I do admire, profoundly, his games. But it is true that he has an unbearable personality. Likewise Fischer (second best in my opinion), a thoroughly disgusting human being, although Fischer had at least the partial excuse of insanity, which GK cannot claim... anyway, GK is an egomaniac, but I find Fischer way more unpleasant than him. And, I agree, Anand certainly has a humble and centered aura around him. He appears to be quite a nice guy. And, being only one or two years older than him, I found it quite comforting to see him take over the world's crown and keep it. You have a good week too! I am in the Dominican Republic right now, working on my research here for the last week. Everything has been great, and I am homebound tomorrow. |
|
| May-25-10 | | Albertan: <anyway, GK is an egomaniac,>
<but I find Fischer way more> unpleasant than him.> I understand. Fischer did do alot for Chess and chess players (especially chess professionals). Even Kasparov and other top GM's have mentioned this. And Fischer did play a lot of simuls (if you look at the book written by Lou Hays about Fischer's gasmes you will see just how many simuls he gave. Something Kasparov didn't do. I hope you have a good week there,
and can rest up when you get back.
My father was a professor so he had some sabbaticals which I went on, seeing other parts of the world certainly is eye-opening! I hope you
have a safe trip back!Bye for now. |
|
| May-25-10 | | Albertan: <In my opinion, GK was the best>
<player in history, and I do>
< admire, profoundly, his games.>
< But it is true that he has an> <unbearable personality.> Some people think you need such a
personality to achieve in chess.I
don't buy that. The three strongest chess players in Alberta are three of
the nicest people you could ever meet!
One of them won the Alberta Championship last year which gave him the right to play in the Canadian Closed. However, he didn't play because this would have meant leaving his dog in a pound while he was playing,something he could not bear to do or live with! < Likewise Fischer (second best in my> <opinion), a thoroughly disgusting> <human being, although Fischer had at> <least the partial excuse of >
<insanity, which GK cannot claim...> I am not sure about that Mariano,
some of the things Kasparov did while he was playing suggest to me that he
is psychologically imbalanced. I have 4 years of education in psychology so
I am just suggesting that some of his behaviors.... |
|
| May-25-10 | | Albertan: <I am glad you value players' moral> <integrity and sportsmanship. So do I.> Well without integrity and sportsmanship I do not think you have a
"game".Someone cheated against me once in a tournament, for the entire 3 hours the game took to play. That really bothered me, I didn't play again for over a year,and the CFC or Alberta Chess Federation did nothing to stop him from doing this against other people once I complained about him. However, I realized the only
person who was suffering from this incident was me because i was no longer playing. <In my opinion, GK was the best>
<player in history, and I do>
< admire, profoundly, his games.>
< But it is true that he has an> <unbearable personality.> Some people think you need such a
personality to achieve in chess.I
don't buy that. The three strongest chess players in Alberta are three of
the nicest people you could ever meet!
One of them won the Alberta Championship last year which gave him the right to play in the Canadian Closed. However, he didn't play because this would have meant leaving his dog in a pound while he was playing,something he could not bear to do or live with! < Likewise Fischer (second best in my> <opinion), a thoroughly disgusting> <human being, although Fischer had at> <least the partial excuse of >
<insanity, which GK cannot claim...> |
|
| May-25-10 | | Albertan: I agree, I am missing part of my brain, the connective tissue between the two hemispheres, so playing fast just is not possible for me without a real decline in my performance. I just can't think that fast. Research has
shown that the best chess players in the world use both sides of their brain at the same time in chess,which
explains why I am a patzer LOL.
Playing active chess helped somewhat, but I was like you, I knew alot of openings which saved me time, but in the middle game I had to think alot due to my brain situation..My short term memory isn't that good,which tends to make me go over and over variations to see what is going on. You sound so much like this player I was telling you about here in Alberta who about 1 hr and 50 minutes on the first 20 moves or so then he would blitz out the last moves of the game, game in and game out...and even though he did this he had a rating over 2300 at one point, but now he is older and he can't do this very well anymore.Plus he has cancer and had to get radiation therapy.He was named the "Rocket", because of the way he took off near the time control every game to blitz out his moves to reach the time control. I really found playing
in the Canadian Open last year one of the most exhausting physical and mental exercises I have ever engaged in! I mean I was totally exhausted for weeks and weeks after (I do have a medical condition called fibromyalgia which could have also contributed to my exhaustion). <Hmmm... Interesting to see your> <perspective on NIC. I only> <subscribed some months ago because>
< I got tired of the rather too>
<basic chess level, and poor> <international coverage, of Chess> <Life. I like the annotated games by> <top GMs in NIC. And I did not >
<experience the overwhelming presence> <of GK. I think I subscribed after <that was over.>
I subscribed for 3 years to U.S Chess Life myself, mainly to get better deals on books,that was when I was into collecting chess books, as a hobby, so I understand what you are talking about.When you become a member of the Canadian Chess Federation we also got a magazine. However, now the organization is so strapped for cash that they now only have an online edition to save money. I subscribed to New In Chess for about 17 years, but then I decided to stop. I also subscribed to Chessbase Magazine, which comes out every 3 months and has great annotations for many more games than NIC. However, who has the time or inclination to play through that many games? Besides, alot of games are not annotated in English,which makes it not worth the money. I now buy Chessbase Megadatabase every year once a year.This has all the annotated games in Chessbase Magazine, but does not have the video or opening or special columns found in Chessbase magazine.I plan to buy the Chessbase Magazine issue which will cover the Anand-Topalov match, because they will probably include video. However, GM Giri's annotations are as good as any and they are free at chessbase.com |
|
| May-25-10 | | Albertan: <Hi <Wayne>, good to see you back!> Thanks Mariano! Did you play through the Shulman-Kamsky playoff game from the US Championship? At one point Shulman was up two pawns but he couldn't win! So now they have a crazy playoff using rapid games. A major championship decided by rapid chess? It doesn't seem fair to both players.Why not a match using regular ti me control games? It would increase interest in chess in the U.S. don't you think? <Yes, I do think I have suffered from> <shorter time controls, but I think I> <suffered more from the grueling <schedules of open tournaments in the> <US.> Yes I don't understand why they have to organize open tournaments like they do in North America, it causes stress and poorer quality play. Have you ever asked an organizer why they format open tournaments like they do? < I would rather play a quiet weekly> <game at the local club, if my club> <decided to host an appropriate> <tournament. The sudden death time> <control is especially difficult for> <me. From my youth years I was used> <to getting into time trouble and> <playing moves 35-40 very fast, but I> <knew that after that I would be>
< able to breath deeply and resume> <thinking. Now, sooner or later, all> <games can end in blitzing...> |
|
May-26-10
| | Fusilli: Well, in my case, the gap between my slow chess and my blitz chess is not that huge, but it is enough to make a difference. I think the reason why the US has this weekend open tournaments with grueling schedules is that most people cannot play many games on weekdays. And the vast geography of the US has something to do with it too, as you have to factor in long traveling time too. I don't have fibromyalgia, but I tend to have poor sleep when I stay in hotels, and this of course complicates things in open tournaments... Sorry to hear about the Rocket's simultaneous chess and health decline. I hope you can bring some comfort to him. Well, I gotta go and will be out for a few days. We bought a house in East Nashville (we currently live in the West part of town) and are packing frantically. The move is Friday! And I just came back this morning, after a delayed flight from the Dominican Republic meant a night stuck in Miami... not good timing! But Kristin had a couple of friends helping with packing in the meantime. |
|
| May-28-10 | | Albertan: Mariano, I understand why your tournaments in the U.S. are on weekends. At least you have them. In Canada we are lucky to get a weekend tournament once in a blue moon. People up here just do not want to volunteer to help with chess club activities, or even get paid for them. Best wishes on your move, I hope it goes smoothly and you enjoy your new place. I have moved 3 times in the last 3 years so I know in my own way what you are going through.It is nice you have friends like that who will help you. |
|
Jun-11-10
| | jessicafischerqueen: <Fusilli>
You were right about Sarah Silverman I've been laughing non stop. I watched all of them now. Good luck in the Dominican Republic!
The Korean soccer fans are already in a frenzy.
In 12 hours they play Greece, and if they win, I will hear the breaking of glass and the parade in the street. |
|
Aug-07-10
| | Fusilli: Ngoc Truongson Nguyen vs A Giri, 2010 This is a very good, instructive game. GM Benjamin goes over it in Game of the week on ICC. I think this position (white to play after 47...Rd8-d1) is particularly instructive: 
click for larger viewAs GM Benjamin notes, the instinctive move is to put the rook behind the pawn (48.Rc5), or at least that's one of the rules we all have learned for rook endgames. However, getting the rook out of the e-file would allow the Black King in. The correct way to play the position is 48.Re8! as Nguyen played, keeping the black King cut off. (Keeping the enemy king cut off is another of those rules we have learned, of course.) BTW, if Black had played 47...Rd8-d4+ then 48.Re4 Rxe4+ 49.Kxe4 Ke6 50.Kd4 Kd6 51.h4 wins (right?) |
|
 |
|
|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 12 OF 112 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
|
|
|
Kibitzing
