Play online chess!

Pages:  1 2 Next »
From	Message
baddeeds 17-Sep-15, 15:07	Endgames One thing that is vital and often has more theory then any other phase of the game is the endgame. Which as shamash said and Susan Polgar has implied, "The endgame is your ability to play chess." Now, I remembered some important things about endgames to get it all down and have become pretty good at that. One of my favorite moments of them all was doing endgame studies with archduke_piccolo.
baddeeds 17-Sep-15, 15:09	This is ION's first thread. gameknot.com
baddeeds 17-Sep-15, 15:10	This is his second thread. gameknot.com
teardrop34 24-Sep-15, 09:43	Lu, - Topalov, Baku, World Cup 2015 Hi. Did any of you see the end of the Lu - Topalov game from the 2015 World Cup? Lu forced Topalov to display his Bishop v Rook knowledge and how to get the draw. Topalov had to show that he knew the drawing method for this type of ending by heading for the corner NOT controlled by the Bishop. 92. Rg8+ Kh4 93. Kf5 Kh3 94. Rg4 Kh2 95. Ke4 Kh1 96. Kf3 Kh2 97. Rg2+ Kh1 This is a book draw. Remember the King heads for the corner not controlled by the Bishop. 98. Kf2 Bb6+ 99. Kf1 Bc7 100. Rg7 Bd6 101. Rh7+ Bh2 White cannot make any headway so played.... 102. Kf2 Stalemate. It was a long game, but I post this because there are still so many who don't understand simple endings. Ask yourself, if you were Topalov, would you have known how to prove the draw? I often test my opponents endgame knowledge to see if they really know what they are supposed to...and you'd be shocked by the results I find. But yes, this ending is a draw, when played correctly! If you move to the wrong corner, this is no longer the case. The best way to drill this into your head is to practice it. Use the endgame tables available online if you are unsure (make sure you make an honest attempt first), play a computer from this ending on both sides. Do you see the computer blunder? How about yourself? Better to learn these endings the easy way, through practice, instead of the hard way, like say, in a major tournament where the stakes are high!
baddeeds 26-Sep-15, 08:21	Yes, endgames are vital. There are simple ones, and then, there are ones that are super complex. Just understanding the fundamentals are so important, though. Actually, if we look in the endgame thread on P+K endgames, I believe it's called in TA's thread, yes those are the fundamentals. And, one thing that makes them complex is that even easy endgames are difficult and take time to become second nature.
teardrop34 05-Oct-15, 23:19	Another Endgame from the World Cup Did anybody catch the trap that Alexander Motylev set Anish Giri in the World Cup? A. Motylev - A. Giri, World Cup 2015 36. b4?! White puts the pawn on b4 hoping Black will triple attack it with Rb8. 36... Rb8 Black falls into the trap... 37. Rd3 White leaves the b-pawn to it's fate. The trap is.... 37... Bxb4 Black takes the pawn. 38. Bxb4 Qxb4 39. Rd8+ And White wins the Queen after 39... Rxd8 40. Qxb4 ...alas that did not happened. There is a major flaw in what Motylev did. Can you spot it? ***Solution Spoiler*** Giri did not fall for the trap; instead he played 37...Re8! That skewers the e1 Bishop. White resigned. White was so wrapped up with his own idea that he forgot to look at what Black might play. An important lesson that one. Even good players blunder. Of course this is not the only case in history of a good player blundering as mentioned in one of my annotations. Stay sharp players!
hogfysshe 06-Oct-15, 05:19	nice action. thanks. got to love it when someone uses the "innocent" position of their opponent's own pieces against them. here, white's king, rook, and pawn are ALL in the way and block him from moving his queen to were it can defend the bishop!
baddeeds 07-Oct-15, 15:51	I really liked it, as there was a lot to learn from there. It also shows that Hope Chess can be quite destructive since white did play Hope Chess which left him a weakness for black to exploit.
teardrop34 07-Oct-15, 19:07	I share Tarrasch's thoughts on games like this: "When you don't know what to play, wait for an idea to come into your opponent's mind. You may be sure that idea will be wrong." Siegbert Tarrasch (1862 - 1934).
baddeeds 19-Oct-15, 17:37	I realized that a recent end game was hardest that I encountered. If we were to combine it with two quizzes that I took, barring that all of us failed the second the first one, and combine with the first quiz, yes, that's how complex it was. And, unlike what some of us are used to, it wasn't practice or a course. Instead, it was the real deal, a real game. However, in part, the reason why it was the most difficult endgame I studied, and therefore, very instructive, is the fact that I made a terrible mistake which could've ended the game in a draw, even with best play from me. However, after it was overlooked, I thought about those two tests that I took regarding end game courses, (as well as) things I've had to study with Jack Stockel as Homework, and more material that I learned from GM Susan Polgar about endgames to force a win. So, everything combined together. With that being said, he put up a very good fight. There is one moral which exists from another game I studied which also applies to endgames. And, yes, as noted in KOH thread which I posted in the original end game thread by from ION which he agrees with, "It's not how much you know, but rather, it's about applying what you know and applying it towards your games" (which also became the title of a recent annotation.) In fact, as I was wondering for a while, what it boiled down to on how I've surpassed 1300. But, the main reason I improved to this strength is because I remember exactly what shamash said. Without having had played a game against him or seeing an annotation from shamash, that, alone, shows that he is a very good teacher and you can learn from him.
teardrop34 23-Oct-15, 12:19	The Queen Skewer Ladies and Gents, I present to you a thing of beauty: An endgame featuring a notorious queen skewer. I saw this with 2 people playing in the park, and now I'm showing you. I asked for the notation from this game because the ending was so beautiful (in my eyes at least): We begin at this position. 43. Kd2 Nf5 44. Kd3 Ne7 45. Kd2 Nd5 Well worked out. Should White play Nxd6 then the a-pawn cannot be stopped. 46. f5 Nxc3 Now White realized that if 47.f6 than 47...Ne4+ picks up the f-pawn. So 0-1. After this I saw something else, and asked, if you allowed white to queen, can't black still win? Looking at this, Black can allow White to promote and then skewer the new Queen...Watch…Look...Learn. (and they played out my melody too!) 47. f6 a2 48. f7 a1=Q 49. f8=Q As you know, I tend to like to look for alternative wrap-ups. Here, Black has that most important of things when dual promotions take place: The Move. Note: if it were White to play here, Qb8+ draws. But now, let's see how Black forced White into a skewer: 49... Qd1+ 50. Ke3 Qe2+ If Kf4 then Qf2 is skewer number 1. 51. Kd4 Qe4+ 52. Kc5 Only move. 52... Qb4+ And skewer number 2 picks up the Queen. 0-1
baddeeds 28-Oct-15, 08:46	I have another interesting endgame to show you. Though, it is an entire game, as it was annotated, but the endgame is what get interesting. gameknot.com
teardrop34 29-Oct-15, 07:14	BvN I won't post this in the hall of shame, because I wanted to show a point: in the endgame, there is no room for mistakes. And here, 1 move was literally all it took for me to strike: 1. Kg3 Kf8 2. Kg4 Kg7 3. Kh5 Ne4 4. f3?? This is bad because now Ng3+ wins the Bishop... 4...Nf6# But, checkmate is better.   The funny thing is, I have a giant database which I can search for statistics like who wins the BvN endgame. This db has games from pretty much all the 20th century, mainly expert level and higher. Well, I took a peek and out of over 100,000 games, here is what it shows: ===Pure 2 Bishops v 2 Knights games=== White has the two Bishops - 49 games Wins 29 (59%) Draw 13 (27%) Lost 7 (14%) Black had the two Bishops. 36 games. Won 11 (30%) Drew 16 (45%) Lost 9 (25%) So Two Bishops in the hands of the good guys carries some clout. But… ===Pure ending 1 Bishop v 1 Knight no other pieces=== White had the Bishop. 842 games. Won 376 (44%) Drew 284 (35%) Lost 182 (21%) Black had the Bishop 746 games Won 184 (24%) Drew 243 (34%) Lost 319 (42%) Incredible how the wins differ with the color with the single piece ending. The lone White Bishop wins (44%) of the games and yet the lone Black Bishop only wins (24%) and has lost on this DB (1966 - 2005) (42%). Kind of begs the question: what are the good guys doing with their White Knights? A good thing to think about
teardrop34 07-Nov-15, 05:00	Deleted by teardrop34 on 23-Nov-15, 08:28.
teardrop34 07-Nov-15, 09:39	Deleted by teardrop34 on 23-Nov-15, 08:28.
teardrop34 23-Nov-15, 08:26	A Bernard Horwitz Endgame Study There is a reason I am posting this, especially after going through some of the Euro Championship games. So, hoping I at least get some kind of response from the lower rated players: White to play and win. I won't give you a move limit, or any hints past this. All I will say is the beauty of this solution will be needed later
teardrop34 23-Nov-15, 08:28	Note: No mate needed, just show the winning line
deeper_insight 23-Nov-15, 09:39	I won't comment on the Bernard game above,leaving that to the others,but whites next move is a necessity in theory,even without a mate. As to a few games above with the Topalov world cup.Its interesting to note that the Nalimov table bases illustrate a draw in only 3 moves,per se: 1.Rh7,Bd8 2.Rh8,Bc7 3.Rh7 (*) Just FYI.
baddeeds 24-Nov-15, 07:53	I think that Kxb5 is the solution. And, now, no matter where the K goes, white will win the other pawn on a4. So, with no where for the K to hide, it will be mate. And, I'm directly comparing this position to what I did in the Traxler Defense with Knight and Bishop since we can lock this monarch in the corner, as well.
teardrop34 24-Nov-15, 09:53	I won't give the solution...yet. That comes after the holidays. But I will say your line is incorrect jkarp. In fact, it leads to a draw with best play. You are welcome to try again though.
baddeeds 26-Nov-15, 09:12	I care to take another guess. But, the only other thing to comes to mind is ...Kb4
ragnarhairybreek 27-Nov-15, 11:05	My first thought was the same as jkarp's, viz. Kxb5. So, knowing this is incorrect, Kc6. Why? Because for white to win she must promote her pawn. To promote her pawn, she needs to get her K on 6th rank before the pawn (the chess theory bit TA mentioned). White's bishop is same color as black's a-file queening square, so that danger can be averted. Am I warm?
teardrop34 29-Nov-15, 17:47	A Bernard Horwitz Endgame Study -- The Solution Part 1 Thanks for the replies guys. Here's the solution. Most moves made by white in this study lead to a draw with best play. This can be verified easily. Won't go into detail on the wrong moves, but I do appreciate the effort. Kxb5 -- draw Kb4 -- draw Kc6!! -- win Very nicely spotted ragnarhairybreek, but this is only a one move analysis. There is more to it than that but is a great start for someone your level   Now for the explanation: 1. Kc6 Ka8 In the next part, we will look at the charming conclusion if Black plays 1...Ka6. 2. Kb6 Of course, taking the b-pawn is a draw. Now the goal is simple here, force the pawn advance and eventual exchange, then play out the easy win. Watch and learn   2... b4 3. axb4 a3 4. b5 a2 5. Be5 It's a simple win. 5... a1=Q 6. Bxa1 Hope you all enjoyed it. Maybe not as much as that holiday feast, but still. Jeremy
teardrop34 29-Nov-15, 17:56	A Bernard Horwitz Endgame Study -- The Solution Part 2 And now for the finale: Instead if 1...Ka8, let's see Black get cute and play 1...Ka6. 2. Be3 Ka5 3. Bc5 Ka6 4. Bb6 Again, Black is reduced to turning the blocked a-pawn into a passed b-pawn. 4... b4 5. axb4 a3 6. b5 Well, that's what happens when you get cute. You get mated instead. Keep alert ladies and gents   Jeremy
deeper_insight 29-Nov-15, 20:24	Good analysis everyone.I just wanted to mention that there are actually MANY other ways for white to mate in the given diagram,but the mate would simply take much longer.Many Bishop moves like 1.Be3 will also lead to mate,but mate in about 19 moves. 1.Bd2 can still yield a mate in 19 moves.1. Kd6 can also yield a mate in approx 20 moves with follow through like... 1....b4 2.axb4,Kb6 3.Bc1,Kb5 4.Ba3,Kb6 ect ect or 1.Kd6,Kb6 2.Be3+,Kb7 3.Bd4,Kc8 4.Bb6,Kb7 5.Kc5,b4 ect ect Again,the best move is 1.Kc6(as Jeremy stated) for a mate in about 10 moves,but not the only move for mate.The idea here may not have a mate goal,just next best move,but I thought i'd bring up some mate comparisons anyway.I'm only saying this because if a player would somehow "miss"the best move of Kc6,its still no biggie,as long as they understand that there are just as equally safe ways to mate...but the road to that mate is a longer country road to reach the desired destination! Its easy to check all of these other move tests here,by plugging in different moves with whites K or B.Even moving whites K away from the "hot zone" can still yield a win for white as I showed above or by checking in the Nalimov: chessok.com
teardrop34 30-Nov-15, 09:22	A bit of a correction: Kb4 is not a drawn move in my previous response. Had to check that again. It can still win. It wasn't the best option, but not a drawn one either. Good effort jkarp
teardrop34 30-Nov-15, 09:26	L. Aronian - M. Vachier-Lagrave, European Team Championship 2015. Now my reason for posting the previous endgame study: This was the final position where Levon resigned. From the previous study I posted, can you visualize what Levon saw in this position that made his resign?
deeper_insight 30-Nov-15, 11:51	Jeremy, According to the Nalimov tablebases,Kb4 is a draw,not a win...that is,if we are on the same diagram a few boards above(and my copied diagram below with whites King already moved to b4) and the black King on a7.Check for yourself right here: chessok.com Black to now move above after whites King move to b4 Just set up all the above diagram pieces on the Nalimov board with whites King on square b4,as if it just moved to square b4(as above).Then make SURE its blacks turn to move NEXT by clicking on "switch turn" and observing that it is definitely blacks turn to move in the top of the board,which it will show.Then press "evaluate".It shows a draw,not a win.However,I suppose with terrible play from black(like black moving his King far away) it could win for white,but then,if we go by that scenario,many games listed as a "draw" can be won if your opponent plays like an old electronic calculator with pancake syrup all over the keys,while it is shorting out!
teardrop34 30-Nov-15, 21:53	Ah, you are right TA, I forgot to switch sides when double checking a 2nd time. Thanks.
teardrop34 02-Dec-15, 21:04	RE: L. Aronian - M. Vachier-Lagrave, European Team Championship 2015. OK time to post the solution for this one. I know it's a bit more tricky especially if you don't know what to look for. Recall the tricks from the Horwitz endgame study involved turning black's blocked pawns into passed ones. Such a study does not work in this game though as after a4, Black is not forced into taking with Bxa4?? (which would be a draw in case you aren't following me  ), but the more devastating Kg3!! since after this, it is a straightforward won King and Pawn ending for Black.
Pages:  1 2 Next »

GameKnot: play chess online, chess teams, monthly chess tournaments, Internet chess league, chess clubs, online chess puzzles, free online chess games database and more.