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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 23 OF 914 ·
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Mar-22-07
 | | tpstar: <David> FYI, one of your Petrov games was used in a <WTHarvey> puzzle set = http://www.wtharvey.com/c42.html |
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Mar-22-07
 | | Phony Benoni: <Tony> Thanks. I knew already about another one he used in http://www.wtharvey.com/c85.html. Now I'm beginning to wonder how famous I really am. |
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Mar-22-07
| | tpstar: <David> I remember one of your US Open games showing up in a Soltis quiz. It was a Modern Two Knights line like Herrmann vs Keres, 1936 where Black sacrificed the Ra8 to get ... Ba6 in and win brilliantly. So you really are famous. ;-) |
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Mar-22-07
| | Phony Benoni: <Tony> Well, since you bring it up ... here are my two combinations that made it into the Soltis quiz.
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Holmen--Moody, US Open, 1982. Black to play.
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Moody--Katrein, US Open, 1985. White to play. |
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Mar-23-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by J. Villaneuve-Esclapon, 1923. Published in Chessboard Magic! by Irving Chernev, #158.)
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Black's a rook ahead, but gets his pieces caught in a terrible tangle and simply cannot extract them. <1.Bg7>
With the threat of 2.Bxd4 Bxd4 3.Nc6+.
<1...Rh7 2.Kg4>
2.Bxd4 no longer works as Black guards c6 by interpolating 2...Rxh6+, so White tries to catch the imprisoned rook. <2...Kxa7 3.Kh5 Nf5>
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Now 4.Kg6 is thwarted by 4...Rxg7+ 5.hxg7 Nxg7. White therefore takes the bishop, and a fierce struggle begins as Black tries to bring both of his pieces to safety. <4.Bxb2 Rxh6+ 5.Kg5>
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<5...Rh2>
Forced, since after 5...Rb6 6.Be5 and moving the knight to safety allows 7.Bd4. <6.Be5 Rf2 7.Bf4>
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Again blocking the protection of the knight, and threatening 8.Be3+ unless Black walks into a pin. <7...Nd4 8.Be3 Rf5+ 9.Kg4 Rd5 10.Kf4> To the attack!
<10...Kb6>
To the rescue!
<11.Ke4 Kc5 12.Kd3!>
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And draws by shuttling the bishop back and forth from e3 to g1; Black has no way of slipping out of the pin without losing a piece! Really something, isn't it? Alas, it was discovered many years after publication that Black could win the ending (well before the final position, of course). Want to take a whack at finding the win? |
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Mar-25-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
(Composed by T. C. L. Kok, 1936. Published in Chessboard Magic! by Irving Chernev, #159.)
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This one gets complicated, so listen carefully. To start off, White would like to play 1.Rc1 and 2.Ra1#. Black could counter by escaping with his king via b5, so White first blocks that square. <1.b5 cxb5 2.Rc1>
(DIAGRAM #2)
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Black has two defenses to the mate threat. If he tries 2...Rg4, then White has 3.Nf4! (ANALYSIS DIAGRAM)
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This is known as a <Plachutta interference>. Black's pieces each perform a distinctive defensive function; by sacrificing a piece on the square where their defensive paths cross, White forces the piece which captures to cover both threats and thereby become overloaded. Concretely, after 3...Rfxf4 White has 4.Ra1+ Ra4 5.Rxa4+ bxa4 6.f8Q. It's a little more complicated after 3...Rgxf4 4.f8Q Rc4+ (allowing the other rook to take on f8, since 4...Rxf8 allows 5.Ra1#) 5.Rxc4 Rxf8 6.Rc1 Rf4 7.h5! Rh4 8.Ra1+ Ra4 9.Rxa4+ bxa4 10.h6 and wins, since the pawn promotes while guarding Black's promotion square on a1. Got all that? Good. Now go back to diagram 2, and we'll explore Black's other defensive try. <2...e5 3.Nf6!>
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Another Plachutta! Once again 3...Rfxf6 4.Ra1+ Ra6 5.Rxa6+ Kxa6 6.f8Q is easy, so Black must go the other way, and matters unravel much as before. <3...Rgxf6 4.f8Q Rc6+ 5.Rxc6 Rxf8 6.Rc1 Rf6 7.Ra1+ Ra6 8.Rxa6+ Kxa6>
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Fortunately, the rest has nothing to do with Plachutta interference. <9.h5 b4 10.h6 b3 11.h7 b2 12.h8Q b1Q 13.Qa8+ Kb5 14.Qb8+> And Black's queen comes off.
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Mar-26-07
| | Phony Benoni: WHITE TO PLAY AND DRAW
(Composed by E. N. Somov-Nasimovitsch, 1935. Published in Chessboard Magic! by Irving Chernev, #160.)
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We have reached the end of a six-month journey through this book. I hope you've enjoyed the studies as much as I have enjoyed posting them. For the most part I've avoided quoting Chernev directly, but I think his introduction to this one sums up his whole attitude very well: <"So bewilderingly beautiful is this masterpiece, that even thought it has a slight flaw, it must be ranked as one of the fines of end-game compositions!"> Most anthologists would have tossed out a study with a major fault, but Chernev is concerned first with the beauty of the conception. Meanwhile, back at the study, note that 1.h8Q loses to 1...Bxf3+ 2.Kd4 a1Q+. <1.Nf4+ Kg3 2.Ne2+ Kxf3>
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Queening is still out of question as 3...Kxe2+ forces 4.Kd4 a1Q+ again. <3.Nf3 a1Q 4.h8Q>
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<4...Qxc3!!>
Somewhat startling. If now 5.dxc3, Black has 5...Ke3#(!). <5.Qxc3+ Ke2+>
Now what? 6.Kd4 allows 6...e5#.
<6.Qf3+ Bxf3+ 7.Kd4>
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And here comes the problem; Black could now win with 7...d5; If 8.Kf3 b4+, and Black eventually wins White's last pawn at the cost of his b-pawn, remaining with a decisive advantage. How boring. Instead, we'll finish with the intended line... <7...Kxd2 8.Bxd6! exd6>
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...and bid you adieu. |
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| Apr-04-07 | | ahmadov: <...are reading words of wisdom from a player rated 2950--plus or minus 1000 points.> I love it... |
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| Apr-09-07 | | gambitfan: Dear <Phony Benoni> Please have a look at Game Collection: BISHOP AND KNIGHT ENDGAMES This collection should remind you of your greatest achievement in chess! |
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Apr-10-07
| | Phony Benoni: <gambitfan> Thanks. I certainly need a refresher; it happened over 20 years ago, and I've forgotten everything I knew about the ending. Shows what happens when you cram instead of understanding what you're learning. I once saw a hilarious game with this ending, for which, alas, no scoresheet survived. It was the first round of a Swiss, and The Great Master (at least, in his own mind) was playing Random C-Player. They had reached the endgame, with TGM having K+N+P against a bare king--but RCP, never having learned how to resign, was still hanging on. With about 5 minutes left in a sudden death time control, TGM was about to queen the pawn and getting more and more peeved at RCP. So, he decided to teach him a lesson by promoting to a bishop--and, naturally, was unable to execute the mate before his flag fell! |
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| Apr-11-07 | | micartouse: Hi <Phony Benoni>. I enjoy your page! These are neat studies. <B and N mate> I found a neat way to cheat with this ending since I had a hard time getting the king to the side of the board. The knight is bulky to maneuver so I use the following basic plan: 1. Put the knight 1 of the 4 center squares the same color as the bishop. This way it controls different colors than the bishop. Keep it there. 2. Bring the king in opposition to the opposing king. 3. Use only the king and bishop to get the king to the side of the board since they are easy to maneuver quickly. 4. Once the king is at the side of the board, use the standard book moves to get him cornered (easy to memorize - it's just two lines). Using this method isn't exactly optimal, but it's pretty easy to enforce within 40 moves. I hope this helps someone like myself who had a hard time getting the king to the side because of knight clumsiness. :) With my plan, the knight does an amazing amount of work without moving. |
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Apr-11-07
| | Phony Benoni: <micartouse> Interesting. To tell the truth, my problem was never getting the king to the edge of the board; it was keeping him there. |
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Apr-12-07
| | Phony Benoni: Frank Kollar -- Reynaldo Vera, Canadian Open, 1997. Black to play.
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| Apr-13-07 | | Tactic101: f3 looks nice. If white plays BxQ, black answers with fxg2+. Qxg2 and Rf1#. And if instead of taking the queen, white plays g3, blocking the mating attack, black's f3 pawn goes all out with f2+, Qg2 and f1+Q#! And if any other move, fxg2+, Qxg2 and Rf1#. Pretty cool combination. |
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Apr-14-07
| | Phony Benoni: <Tactic101> You're got the idea. There are a couple o little details; for instance, after 1...f3 2.g3 f2+ 3.Qg2 f1Q+ is not mate because White has 4.Bg1. But then Black just takes on g2 and it's mate anyhow, so no big deal. For that matter, 3...Qe1# is quicker in that line. But I'd still give you credit for solving this; finding 1...f3 is the key idea I like these combindations where an attack on the queen is answered by a seemingly irrelevant move elsewhere. |
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| Apr-14-07 | | Tactic101: Ouch! This is the second time in 2 days I've done this while solving a puzzle here. Maybe I should bring up two windows: one to show the puzzle, the other to write my answer. |
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Apr-23-07
| | Phony Benoni: 
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This is from Gofshtein--Castadena, Canadian Open, 1997, with <White to play>. What's going on? |
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Apr-24-07
| | Phony Benoni: The game continued 1.Nd6! Qxd1+ 2.Qxd1 1-0, since the probably intended 2...b2 loses to 3.Nxc8! b1Q 4.Qxb1 Nxb1 5.a5!, and Black can't catch the a-pawn. A similar line follows 1...b2 2.Qxc8+ Qxc8 3.Nxc8 b1Q 4.Rxb1 Nxb1 5.a5. So, basically White wins because of the a-pawn. surprisingly enough. Well, that and a nasty mate threat: if, say 1...Rc7 2.Rxc1! Rxc1+ 3.Kh1 b2 4.Qd7! Kg7 5.Qxf7+ Kh6 6.Nf5+ gxf5 (6...Kh5 7.Qxh7#) 7.Qf6+ Kh5 8.Qg5#. |
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Apr-24-07
| | Phony Benoni: Here's a simpler one (perhaps...) from Egon Ditt v. Deen Hergott. Unwilling to move his attacked knight, White has just played 23.Qe4 pinning the b-pawn. How does Black answer this?
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Apr-25-07
| | Phony Benoni: 23...Qa8! encouraged immediate resignation. If White moves the attacked knight, Black has 24...Ne3+ with an attack on the unprotected queen, and winnning a rook after 25.Kf3 Qxe4+ 26.Kxe4 Nxf1. |
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Apr-27-07
 | | WannaBe: <Phony Benoni> Been dying to try out some Benoni defence, finally found a 1. d4 game on GameKnot! Will let you know how it works out... I'm trying to stay within the Benoni 'family' of moves. |
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Apr-27-07
| | Phony Benoni: <WannaBe> Ah-ha! I have corrupted another one! The plan is working... |
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Apr-28-07
| | Phony Benoni: Recently, over in the Café, there appeared this plaintive bit of musing: <technical draw: It's one thing to be a "good" player and it's another thing to be a master. I just got whooped in 16 moves by WGM Irina Krush. Why do we amateurs lose so badly and so quickly against IM's and GM's? I thought I had the Caro Kann down pat and I get slaughtered in just a few moves. There must be some invisible barrier that has to be crossed to get into the master level and whip "expert" players all over the place.> Hey, if I just knew the answer to this, I'd be ... no, I probably wouldn't be rich. You don't make a lot of money because you know stuff like this. And I probably wouldn't be a master, either. Knowing the answer and applying it are two entirely different things. But I do have a couple of observations, for what they're worth. The master is able to single out the most important features of a position, then come up with a good strategical/tactical sequence to implement a plan based on those features. I mean, how often have you stared at a position with no idea what to do next? The master knows. A case in point: [Event "Canadian Open"]
[Site "Winnipeg, MB"]
[Date "1997.07.14"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Vukadinov, Milan"]
[Black "Panken, Richard"]
[ECO "D43"]
[WhiteElo "2396"]
[BlackElo "2005"]
<1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Qc2 g6 9.Be2 Bg7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e4 dxe4 12.Nxe4 Qe7 13.Rfe1 Nf6 14.Bd3 Rd8 15.Rad1 Qc7 16.Qc1 Nxe4 17.Bxe4 b6 18.h4 f5>
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Irked by the prssure exerted by the bishop on e4, Black has played 18...f5 to kick it out. The move looks weakening, but Black has a plan: he will play ...c5 to eliminate White's d-pawn and clear the way for the de-weakening advance ...e5. In the meantime, where does the bishop go? With no combinations in the air, I have a feeling a lot of us would choose b1 because (a) it doesn't block the action of White's heavy pieces; (2) it's the funniest retreat available. But watch what Vukadinov does. <19.Bc2 c5 20.dxc5 Rxd1 21.Bxd1!!> This was the move that startled me when I looked over the game. I mean, you obviously play 21.Rxd1 to control the open file, don't you? Ah, but that would allow Black to execute his plan with ...e5; Vukadinov's move keeps control over e5; in fact, the whole rest of the game plays on this theme. <21...bxc5 22.Qe3 Rb8 23.b3 Rb6 24.Ne5 Kh7 25.Qg3 Bxe5 26.Qxe5 Qxe5 27.Rxe5 Rc6 28.f4 h5 29.Kf2 Kg7 30.Ke3 Kf7 31.Kd2 Ke7 32.Kc3 a5 33.a3 Ba6 34.Be2 Kd6 35.b4 axb4+ 36.axb4 Bc8 37.g3 Rc7 38.Bd3 Ba6 39.Re2 Bb7 40.Rd2 Ke7 41.bxc5 Rxc5 42.Kb4 Rc7 43.Bc2 Bf3 44.Ba4 Bb7 45.Bb5 Be4 46.Ra2 Bf3 47.Ra6 Be4 48.Kc3 Bg2 49.Kd4 Bf3 50.c5 Rb7 51.Rb6 Ra7 52.Ke5 Ra1 53.Rxe6+ Kf7 54.Be8+ Kf8 55.Bxg6> 1-0 So, you see, 21.Bxd1 made a lot of sense, and I'm sure you probably would have found the move had you thought about it. But here's the point: would you have had the bishop on c2 in the first place? |
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Apr-28-07
| | WannaBe: <Phony Benoni: ... I mean, how often have you stared at a position with no idea what to do next? The master knows....> Every time I play white, I don't know how to pinpoint where to go, I can at time recognize a weak piece/pawn/square, but I often can't get my head/thoughts straight. Hence, I prefer to play black. Seriously!! |
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Apr-28-07
| | Phony Benoni: <WannaBe> I thought about answering you, but I didn't know what to write next. |
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