The Back Rank

King and Pawn ending

2008-03-04T18:47:00.004-05:00

This is an actual position from a recent game I played:

Black to move

Each side's king is dealing with connected passed pawns and at first I expected there would be nothing to do but babysit the pawns and we would draw. Unfortunately, this was a blitz game so there wasn't time to figure it out. Without the time to calculate, I just played Kc4 in the hopes that my pawns being further advanced was enough to win. My opponent obliged with the losing Kd1, which was probably a premoved king shuffle trying to draw, but this is now easily losing -- a6 would have led to both sides queening and a draw.

But black does have a winning idea in this position. Your name might be Likesforests if you get it right away.

1. ... Ka6 2. Kd1 d2! 3. Ke2 Kb5 4. Kd1 Kxb4! In this position black is close enough to queening even if white runs with the a-pawn due to a mating threat. 5. a6 Kc3 and now 6. a7 is mate in two with 6. ... Kd3 and 7. ... e2# while 6. Ke2 Kc2 threatens to promote with check so the black queen has time to stop white's pawn.

Brave Bishop

2008-02-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

I recently finished one of the cleanest games of chess I've ever orchestrated, including what I think is a pretty cool bishop maneuver. I will be getting on to flogging myself over losses soon enough, but first, something to smile about.

The game started out as an awkward Sicilian,
1. e4 c5 2. Bc4!?
This is supposed to be one of white's worst choices here. In fact, it's not even covered in my book on the Sicilian that covers 5 other "rare second moves". Instead of playing a solid refutation (2. ... e6) I just continued with normal accelerated dragon moves.
2. ... Nf6 3. c3
I don't know if this is some kind of delayed Alapin or what but I decide I should be trying to play d5 so
4. ... e6 5. f4?! d5.

White is playing a mix of early Bc4, Alapin, and Grand Prix which seems uncoordinated to me. c3 is supposed to support a d4 push, which doesn't go well with f4 because it leaves a big hole on e4. I have the feeling black has already equalized.
6. exd5 exd5 7. Qe2+
White gets a check in:

Black to move

White's pawn structure isn't good for development

6. ... Be7 7. Bb5 Nf6
Black just develops his pieces. It's easier to know where to put the knight than the c8 bishop.

8. Nf3 0-0 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. 0-0

This is a critical position

Black to move

White might get away with playing d3, Be3, and Nbd2 and his position might not suck. This would be bad, we would like black's position to suffer more than if we simply allow these moves. A natural move here is just Bg4 because it feels nice to develop a piece with a pin, but this doesn't really do anything and perhaps the bishop might be better going to a6.

Instead, black finds a move that accomplishes two things.
10. ... c4!
The exclam might be excessive, but lets see what we've got. First, we're holding back white's easy development since it's not as simple to move the d-pawn any more. Second, we're clearing the c5 square for our dark squared bishop that was in danger of not getting active. We do cut off the a6-f1 diagonal from our light squared bishop, but that bishop can have scope on the other side of the board (f5, g4).

11. d4
This sticks black with a decision. There is only one chance to capture this pawn. There is some temptation to leave the pawns on f4 and d4 when white has a bad bishop. But the closed position doesn't bode well for black's bishop pair. Black would prefer to open up the vulnerable a7-g1 diagonal.

11. ... cxd3ep 12. Qxd3
If you can see all the tactics from this position, give yourself a gold star

Black to move

Black needs to strike while the iron is hot. White is threatening to just play Be3 and Nbd2. It's still not the prettiest position for white, but it seems to hold together.

12. ... Qb6+
Better than Bc5+ which can be met by Be3 or Kh1. Now Be3 hangs the b-pawn and there may be even worse consequences if 13. Be3 Ba6! Thankfully black doesn't have to calculate that line unless black actually makes the mistake Be3 and then it's just a matter of choosing the winning line he's more sure of. Kh1 loses material to Ba6.

13. Qe3 Bc5 14. Nd4 Re8
White's moves are pretty much forced. After loading up on the weak diagonal, black goes to work on the open file and the exposed queen. Black doesn't want to lose a pawn on d4 so:

15. Qd2 Ne4 A great post of the knight with tempo. 16. Qd1

Black to move

Black's pieces have gone forward while white's have not. Black can be proud of his better placed pieces, but this is not the moment to let up. Black might be tempted to play Ba6 to develop with tempo, but there is a better option for this brave bishop in this position. The c8 bishop enters the game in the most forceful way

16. ... Bg4!!
This move is brought to you by the letter "f" and the number "2". This hint is probably enough to figure out why 17. Qxg4? is an immediate loser. So once again white is making an unhappy move with his queen instead of developing his pieces. White still doesn't want to hang a pawn on d4 and so chooses:

17. Qd3 And now black demonstrates why the previous move gets two exclams
17. ... Be2! This move forks the queen and rook, so black will certainly pick up material if white declines the bishop a second time, so how does black pull it out when the bishop is accepted?

18. Qxe2 Nxc3

White to move

This move simultaneously captures a pawn, attacks the queen, and removes a defender of the d4 knight. If white tries to save the queen, black will recoup the sacrificed piece by taking the knight on d4 with check and still retain the extra pawn he's just captured on c3. Black does need to be certain that white can't get too much material for the queen. For example, 19. Nxc3 Rxe2 20. Nxe2 puts the material at a rook and two pieces for a queen and pawn, but the position is not yet quiescent and black regains one of the pieces with 20. ... Bxd4. In the game, white tried:
19. Qxe8 Rxe8 20. Nxc3

Trying to protect the d4 knight with 20. bxc3 loses more material to 20. ... Bxd4+ 21. cxd4 Qxd4+ 22. Kh1 Qxa1 picking up the rook.

20. ... Bxd4+ and white has a Queen and pawn for Rook and knight, a winning material advantage.

The rest of the game is more technical in converting the advantage.
21. Kh1 Bxc3 22. bxc3 Re2 White has no real development and black is invading on the 7th

White to move

23. Ba3 Qa6
This is an interesting move. White has to be prepared to meet Re1. In the game I decided I was willing to give back material in order to reach a winning King and Pawn endgame.

24. Rae1 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Qxa3 26 Re8+ Qf8 White resigns.
Maybe a bit early, but black retains the extra pawn going into the King and Pawn ending. This ending is not difficult to play.

Bishop and Rook Pawn

2008-02-03T11:05:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been playing a lot of games at chess.com and not blogging about it. I have a couple of neat things from those games to put down in the blog before I do some deeper annotations.

First, a quick reminder of bishop and rook pawn endgame:

A draw

White has no way to pry the black king away from h8 and so the game is drawn.

So in a recent game when I won a bishop for some pawns and reached this position:

I was concerned that even if I can use my extra piece to win black's pawns I'm only headed for a draw. Of course, the rooks make a big difference. The e and g pawns fell without significant resistance (38. h4 Rc2+ 39. Kd1 Rff2 40. Rf7+ Ke5 41. Rfe7+ Kd4 42. Rxe5+ Kc5 43. Be8 Rb2 44. Kc1 Rbc2+ 45. Kb1 Rb2+ 46. Ka1 Rbd2 47. Ra5+ Kb6 48. Rb5+ Kc7 49. Rc4+ Kd8 50. Bxg6 Rd1+ 51. Bb1) and we reached this position:

Black is still heading towards the draw shown in the first diagram. While the rooks are still on, white needs to accomplish one of two goals. Either win black's h-pawn and push his own while the king can be cut off from the h-file by a rook or banish black's king to the far end of the queenside. In the game, white managed to accomplish the second of these goals, 51. ... Ke7 52. Rb7+ Ke6 53. Rh7 Rf7 54. Rc2 Re1 55. Kb2 Ref1 56. Re2+ Kd5 57. Ba2+ Kc7 58. Rc7+ Kb6 59. Rc8 R1f4 60. Re3 Rb4+ 61. Rb3 Rxb3+ 62. Bxb3 Kb7 63. Rc3 Rf2+

Here white has an important decision. Is it okay to play Rc2 and allow the rooks to be traded? It turns out that the plan of driving the black king to the queenside has worked in this position. If the rooks are traded on c2, the white king is closer to the h8 square that the black king thanks to the white bishop covering some key squares. The game continued 64. Rc2 Rxc2+ 65. Kxc2 Kc7 66. Kd3 Kd7 67. Ke4 Ke7 68. Kf5 And now thanks to the bishop black can't follow along with Kf7 and black resigned a few moves later. When calculating the ending after 65. Kxc2, be sure to consider black's attempt to cut off the bishop with 65. ... Kc6 and 66. ... d5.

My blunders

2007-12-02T10:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent blunders to keep anybody from thinking I'm good at chess.

This is a position from the Sicilian Accelerated Dragon.

I think black was doing quite well until playing f6? Black was threatening a fork with d4, prevented only by the fact the pawn is pinned to the rook. I considered Rb8 breaking the pin and threatening the b2 pawn, but didn't see how to proceed after Na4, which brings a second attacker to the c5 pawn. I don't like responding with d4 because this opens the diagonal his light squared bishop is on and puts a pawn on the diagonal of my dark squared bishop. Maybe that's over thinking it since the Knight on a4 is not well placed in this line.

f6 is a thematic move in this line as it tries to break down the diagonal of the g7 bishop. I thought if I got a little more play on that diagonal before Rb8, then Rb8 would be an even more powerful move. Unfortunately f6 is a blunder. Bxd5! and white picks up plenty of material.

Here is an example where I am overzealous about attacking and forget my defensive responsibilities.

I was so focused on the lonely d5 pawn and the slightly exposed king that I figured it was good to pressure black with Bc3. Oops, the knight on d3 is hanging.

Tactical melee

2007-11-14T00:35:00.000-05:00

A recently finished game on chess.com was a real tactical melee for much of the game. Here is a position with the final tactical mistake:

White to move

Black has just moved Ncd4. On the face of it, the knights look like they are charging into white's position and positionally, black seems to be doing well. In reality this move just blew black's position and he is simply lost at this point. The whole game, including the winning continutation from this point can be seen at chess.com.

Annotated loss

2007-11-08T23:34:00.000-05:00

I have my first annotated loss from correspondence play. In the game I played well positionally and had a significant positional advantage. I didn't see the right way to properly expand my positional advantage. I have it in the annotations, and I think it's very instructive for me.

The game ended after a major tactical oversight on my part in response to a clever play by my opponent. I've posted the game at chess.com.

My first correspondence games

2007-11-04T15:03:00.000-05:00

I have started playing some correspondence chess on chess.com. Before I was able to get some good opponents I had to raise my rating. Those games were fun, but not terribly instructive. I also now have some more serious games to annotate, some of which are in line with my assessment that I am trying to force the tactics too much.

Here is a sample position from a fun game:

Black to move

White has just played 10. Na4? Of course, the obvious fork Qh4+ comes to mind (if Ke2 Bxg1 before taking the knight still wins a piece). In a blitz game, I'd probably snap the piece off without a second thought, but in a correspondence game, why not take time to analyze 10. ... Qh4+ 11. Ke2 Qf2+! 12. Kd3 Black has passed on the opportunity to take the piece in favor of pushing the king to open space. So black needs to find the right continuation here before playing move 11. Checks are always tempting, but correct here is 12. ... Rc8 putting the king in a box where the threat is Ne5#. White does not have an adequate way to deal with the threat, for example 13. f4 Bxf4 14. Nf3 Qe3# (14. Qe2 Ne5+ 15. Qxe5 Qxc2+ 16. Kd4 Qc4#). My opponent tried 13. c4 Rxc4, which is also ineffective.

CT-Art 767 narrative

2007-10-31T21:50:00.000-04:00

Some problems in level 40 of CT-Art are too complex for me to learn through repetition. For these problems, I will do what I learned from Temposchlucker and and BlueDevilKnight (are there others that did this that I am forgetting?), I will write narratives for these problems.

CT-Art 767:

White to move

The weakest points in black's position are g7 and h7. It would take many moves to get to h7 and if black plays h6, there's probably no route in. So g7 is where to focus the attack.

The immediate attempt to crash through, 1. Nxg7 Bxg7 2. Bh6 f6 allows black to defend g7 laterally with the queen. We would like to do 2 things better. The first is do not allow the lateral defense with the queen. Secondly, don't give up the knight for the bishop since the knight is a good attacker of g7.

There is a safe check that will allow Rxf6, so we examine 1. Nh6+. The king must move to f8 or h8. On 1. ... Kf8 we have 2. Bc5+ Re7 and now the pinned rook will lose for black after 3. Rxf6 gxh6 (gxf6 Qg8#). The critical line is 1. ... Kh8 2. Rxf6 gxf6 3. Qh4. The queen attacks the newly weakened f6 square.

Black to move

3. ... Qe7 Black must defend f6 (3. ... Re6 4. Rxd8 Qxd8 5. Nxf7+ loses quickly). White attacks this defender and the weak g7 square 4. Nf5 Qe6 5. Qh6.

Black to move

Black cannot defend the g7 square. 5. ... Rg8 6. Rxd8

Taking a break

2007-10-29T19:40:00.000-04:00

For a few reasons, I'm going to alter my training regimen. I'm going to stop doing the 3 week repeats on the CT-Art problems.

I finished level 40 on Thursday at 93%. Even with time left to start on level 50 for the first time since I started 3 week repeats, I decided not to. For one, it has been helpful to write narratives on the level 40 problems. There are some on that level that I don't think I could get just with repetition. So that seemed more useful than trucking forward on level 50.

I believe I need to play more games, and in the way that blitz doesn't count. I generally don't play long time control games because I simply don't have time during the week if I'm solving CT-Art problems. Since I recently signed up at chess.com, I've fired up some turn-based games there (I don't understand the terminology here, aren't all chess games turn based?? I would call it correspondence).

I've noticed in recent games that I have a tendency to overestimate my tactical chances. The simplest hypothesis is that constantly solving problems where I have a tactical win has made me over agressive. Hopefully if I put CT-Art aside for a spell and play some real games, I'll get a nice balancing dose of reality.

Of course, the blog will change with me. I may post a few more narratives from CT-Art, but annotated games will likely take a more central focus.

CT-Art 765 Narrative

2007-10-24T22:45:00.000-04:00

I'm once again delving into the narrative writing, and I've once again found an error in CT-Art in the problem set.

CT-Art 765:

White to move

White is attacking the king, but should be wary that his own king position is not perfect, the rook on f3 is pinned and the knight on c3 is attacked. At the moment, g7 and h7 are weak near black's king. The queen attacks at h7 adding a second attacker with g6 or Rh3 is not currently possible because these pieces are pinned. The bishop attacks g7, an attacker can be added with f6 and Qh6.

The immediate f6 suffers from the fact that opening the g-file gives some play to black. 1. f6 gxf6 2. gxf6 Rg8+ 3. Kh1 Qxf3+ 4. Rxf3 Bxf3#.

In order to play g6, white can sacrifice a bishop with 1. Bxg7 Kxg7 2. Qh6 Kh8 3. g6 fxg6 4. fxg6 White is threatening mate and CT-Art gives a poor defense for black, 4. ... Qc5+ 5. R1f2 Qg5+ forcing a trade of the queens, but giving up a defender of the f8 rook, 6. Qxg5 Bxg5 7. Rxf8. Instead, black can give up material temporarily with

White to move

4. ... Rf7 5.gxf7 Rf8 where black is getting his material back due to the pinned rook on f3. The idea is that if black wants to survive, he needs to keep his counterplay active, not trade queens.

If white wants real chances he needs to keep the lines to his king closed. A much simpler practical choice is 1. Qh5 with 2. g6 coming. 1. Qh5 bxc3 2. g6 and now even ... h6 fails to Qxh6, so black doesn't have time to take the knight on c3. 1. Qh5 f6 2. g6 h6 and now white sacs his bishop on h6, 3. Be3 with Bxh6 coming. In this way, white attacks the king position without opening dangerous lines to his own king.

Black to move

White attacks the black king, threatening Bxh6 without opening lines of attack for black.

CT-Art 735

2007-10-22T19:49:00.000-04:00

I was going to write a narrative on CT-Art 735 and decided to double check it on Fritz. It turns out the CT-Art solution has mistakes in multiple places.
CT-Art 735:

White to Move

The pawn on f7 is weak (only defended by king) and is the only defender of e6. In this kind of position, 1. Nxf7 Kxf7 2. Qxe6 immediately comes to mind as so many squares around the king can be controlled. 2. ... Kf8 is mated immediately by Bh6 so 2. ... Kg7 is forced. We can stay with forcing moves by 3. Bh6 Kh8 and now simply pry open the h-file with 4. Bxg6 where black loses quickly if 4. ... hxg6 5. Bf8+ Nh7 6. Rxh7+ Kxh7 7. Qf7+ Kh8 8. Qg7# (5. ... Nh5+ 6. Rxh5+ gxh5 7. Qh6+ Kg8 8. Qg7#). Other 4th moves for black give back excess material, e.g. 4. ... Rg8 5. Bf7.

The above is not the CT-Art solution. CT-Art starts off with 1. Nxf7 Kxf7 but then CT-Art gives 2. Rxh7. This is a good invading move, rooks are typically very well placed on the 7th rank:

Black to Move

The rook is immune from the knight, Nxh7 Qxe6 Kg7 Qxg6+ and mate follows with Bh6 or Qxh7. So black continues with 2. ... Kf8. Here CT-Art gives no credit for the very strong 3. Bxg6 instead favoring 3. Rh6 Bf8 (other moves may be better) 4. Rxg6 and then a serious error from the defense 4. ... Bg7? (Kh8 is more complex and doesn't lose nearly so quickly) which allows 5. Bh6 Nf4 6. Rxg7+ Qxg7 7. Bxf4 where white has three pawns for the exchange.

The CT-Art solution, while winning, is very complex compared to the first solution I gave. Even then, the solution given is helped along by inferior moves from the defense. A proper defense would have made this solution extremely difficult in practice.

Writing some narratives

2007-10-21T13:10:00.000-04:00

So far I'm doing well on level 40, but there are some problems where I'm just drawn to the wrong solution every time. So I'm taking a page out of the BDK and Temposchlucker play books and I'm going to write some narratives about these positions.

CT-Art 734:

White to Move

In this position there are two possible squares for white to invade with a knight, f6 and f5. The defenders of these squares are removed by 1. Rxh5 gxh5 and then either
a) Nd5 followed by Nf5 or
b) Nf5 followed by Nd5 and Nf6.

I'm always attracted to option (a), which is not correct. It appears correct because 2. Nd5 exd5 3. Nf5 attacks the queen and the queen cannot defend the mate on g7. However, this idea overlooks 3. ... Be3+ followed by Qxg5 (or Qe6 if Nxe3).

Option (b) is a winner because the bishop check on e3 doesn't interfere with the knight on f6 or the attack on h7. The queen is also unable to defend h7. So, 2. Nf5 exf5 3. Nd5 Be3+ 4. Kb1! Qxg5 5. Nf6+ Qxf6 6. Qxf6

One of the bottom lines is that h7 is weaker than g7 due to black's ability to get the queen to g5. This makes f6 the right square for a knight rather than f5.

I've got a few more of these to write...

Tough losses

2007-10-20T19:33:00.000-04:00

I had some tough losses at the coffeehouse this week.

In the first game I played against the Benko gambit. I don't typically have a lot of success against this opening, but I think I came out of the opening just fine. I've posted the full game in the analysis forum at chess.com, here, feel free to comment on the game here or there. I've also posted the game at chesslog just in case.

Progress on rep 5

2007-10-17T19:16:00.000-04:00

I finished level 20 at 97%. This is down from 98% in rep 4. I think the decrease is due to complacency as I wanted to get through the level as quickly as possible and often did problems when I was tired and not fully focused. Though interestingly, I did focus on problems I had gotten wrong in the past and got many problems right that I got wrong previously.

With the disappointing setback on level 20, I decided to focus properly on level 30. The result: 97%, up from 92% on the previous rep. This is a big move up on a level that used to give me such problems.

I also project that on my current schedule, I'll get to the level 50 problems this time through.

I almost forgot to mention that I've stopped reporting my elo from CT-Art because it doesn't seem like a relevant measure anymore. Incidentally, the max rating achievable on level 20 is 2125 and on level 30 2275.

Housekeeping; Meta Post

2007-10-16T11:10:00.000-04:00

When this blog started I had no imagination for what it would become and as a result, it was not very organized. Until just recently it has lacked even the simple blog element of tags (or categories). I have now gone back and tagged every blog post. Now if you want to just see posts that include tactics problems, simply click on the "Tactics" category on the sidebar.

I think this is a major upgrade to the useability of the blog. For example, I've made a number of posts where I criticize or point out flaws in CT-Art. These are now all easily found by clicking on the "CT-Art errors" category. So if you want a rather disorganized snapshot of a user's experience with CT-Art, there you go. If you'd rather see what I've done with CTS, there's a link for that too. If you're interested in seeing what kind of chess is being played by a USCF Class B player, check out the tactics/diagrams posts or the Full games posts (note: full games posts contain links to games posted at chesslog).

The increase in useability is good for me personally (yes, I do read my own blog -- I was thinking what?!), but a secondary reason for it is the recent revelation that there are in fact people who visit this blog. Which is the subject of the next part of the post.

The remainder of this post is mildly embarrassing as I didn't realize until somewhat recently how many people come to visit this blog. Don't get me wrong, the numbers aren't huge, but I always figured it was only a couple people who ever saw it. A few months ago Blue Devil Knight made a post about blog cred and a couple weeks later I had installed Google Analytics to see if anyone comes here. The results have been enlightening.

First, not many people visit this blog as a result of search engines. About 10% of all visits were as a result of a search engine. The largest sources of traffic are links from other blogs. This blog is linked on the sidebars of a couple very popular blogs and this results in a large fraction of visits. An even larger driver of traffic is being linked to in a post rather than on the sidebar. There was a big spike in referrals from Likesforests blog when he linked to one of my king and pawn endgame posts. The bottom line is that people visit by following links from other blogs.

The second interesting thing that I notice is that most visitors are first time visitors and only 1 in 5 come back for a second visit. There also seems to be a core of visitors that come frequently enough to see nearly every post (but I probably know these people from the comments already). The large majority of people who are new to the site is one of the reasons for the increased useability. If the site is potentially interesting to them, I might as well make it as easy as possible to navigate to the interesting content.

Next is something I saw someone else write about on their blog -- the geography of visitors. Chess blogs attract visitors from all over the world. Over 59% of my visits are from the US and 30% from Europe (90% of those from Western and Northern Europe), but there are also visits from the rest of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. I am the only visitor from my current city of residence. But I was very happy to see a few visits from Mexico City during the World Championship there. A side effect, based on a conjecture, is that I now believe there are search engine spiders operating out of Los Altos, California and Rock Island, Illinois.

Being from academia, the following excerpt from the list of network locations intrigues me: Duke University, universitaet trier trier, technical university of crete, university of chicago, williams college campus, bucknell university, dartmouth college, indiana univerity-purdue university at indianapolis, massachusettes institute of technology, rutgers university, southern illinois university, university of kansas, university of lausanne, and western iowa tech cc.

Adventures in Coffeehouse Chess

2007-10-13T20:03:00.000-04:00

I have a decent memory from my trip to the coffeehouse. I think the tactics I found today are a decent representation of the kinds of things I can find much better now than I could 6 months ago.

Black to Move

Due to a mating net on the back rank with Bf3, black picks up two pieces for his rook with 1. ... Rxf4 where 2. Bxf4 Bxf4 3. gxf4 is met by Bf3 and mate next. The game continued 2. Rxd6 Rh1+ 3. Ke2 Bf3+ and white resigned in view of Rxd1+.

Black to Move

(hopefully it's clear that the labels (a-h,1-8) on this diagram are backwards. oops!)

Material is unbalanced with black having two minor pieces for a rook. Black's long range plan should be to increase the activity of his two minor pieces. It turns out the unfortunate placement of white's pieces makes these positional ideas moot. 1. ... Qf6! and there's nowhere to run with the rook on a1 hanging in the backround. Protection doesn't help either, for example 2. Qf2 Re2 3. Qxe2 Qxd4+ also picking up the rook on a1. The game continued 2. Qf4 Re4 Fritz says Ne6 is better, but Re4 is so beautiful, it's why we play chess.

White to Move

Once again, just a lucky unfortunate placement of the pieces. The knight on b6 has had it's squares taken away by the queen and bishop trying to line up on h3. The placement of the queen is also important for finishing off the combo. The game continued 1. c5 Na4 2. c6 Bxc6 3. Nxc6 Nxc3 4. Nxe7+ Black resigned.

White to Move

In this position I engaged in dangerous pawn hunting on the queenside. My opponent has made inroads in my king position, but missed a chance to finish me off, instead going for a tactic that was refutable. There are dual threats of Nxa1 and Bd4+. White comes roaring back with 1. Qb8+ Bf8 2. Bh6 Qc5+ 3. Kg2 Qc6 4. Kh3 Qd7 5. Bxf8 f4+ 6. g4 Rxf8 7. Nxf6+ and black resigned since Kg7 Qxf8+ Kxf8 Nxd7+ leaves white a full rook ahead.

Level 40, rep 4 done at 90%

2007-10-07T20:20:00.000-04:00

I finished the 4th rep of level 40 today at 90%. I'm at the end of 3 weeks, so I'm going back to level 10. Since I was out of town for about 4.5 days during these 3 weeks, I don't feel bad about the time taken. However, I need to speed up a bit if I'm going to move beyond level 40 in the 3 weeks.

/------------------------------\
| Level   1     2     3     4  |
|------------------------------| 
|  10    97%   99%   99%  100% |
|  20    92%   94%   95%   98% |
|  30    86%   86%   86%   92% |
|  40    77%   77%   84%   90% |
\------------------------------/

Scoring over 90% on the first 4 levels feels like an accomplishment. But I also feel so far away from being able to see the variations fly through my mind for many of the problems. This is what IM Ziatdinov says it should be like after really learning a position.

Does this software exist?

Given that everyone who attacks a set of chess problems seems to find some errors in the set, I wonder about a software that allows the user to edit the problems. Even better would be a program that would accept an entire problem set and score you according to the definitions in the set. That way, someone could work on producing a very good problem set where the user interface and progress tracking are already taken care of. If the length of the problems is unrestricted, you could even make solitaire chess games for it.

Does this exist and I just haven't found it yet?

Coffeehouse nuggets

2007-09-29T21:32:00.000-04:00

I have a few nuggets that I remember from today's trip to the coffeehouse.

The first position arises from a French defense. I don't usually play 1. e4, but decided what the heck, I'll play it today. I thought we were in an interminable positional struggle where my opponent had a bad bishop and couldn't really break my position. I have good knights, but I don't really see what targets they can hit.

White to move

The knight on f4 holds my kingside and influences the center. I'm planning to play on the c-file and try to get my other knight to d6 or c5, though I'm not even sure what my targets are from there. All that becomes moot when my opponent drops Rhd8 in my lap.

In the next example, I think I was very close to getting run over in an opposite side castling game. I caught a break when my opponent overlooked my only tactical chance.

Black to move

(I just realized, the king should be on c8, not b8 -- will fix the diagram later)

This one obviously takes some deeper calculation, but I've been thinking about the first move of this combination for most of the game so a lot of the lines seemed to come naturally. For a Temposchlucker plan beta hint -- the first invasion square is f2, the second invasion square is h3.

The game continued 1. ... Ng4+ 2. Kg1 Bxf2+ 3. Kh1 h4 4. Be3 hxg3 5. b5 Qh5 6. Bxf2 Nxf2+ 6. Rxf2 Rxf2 7. Nxd6+ Kd7 8. Nxb7 Rxg2 9. bxc6+ Ke7 10. Qa3+Ke8 11. Kxg2 Qxh3+ 12. Kf3 Qf5+ White resigns.

I believe there are improvements for both sides in that line, but I don't think there is a refutation of black's play. It's a real exercise to calculate all the possibilities and I certainly didn't do that over the board.

Ct-Art update, 94% on level 30. 178 problems done out of 221. Looks like I'm going to have a huge improvement on 86% three times in a row.

Update: Finished level 30, rep 4 today. 92%! Ok, I slipped up a bit at the end, but it's still a big deal to do this much better. I'll go back and review the last 20-30 problems of the level before I move on to level 40.

Overseen

2007-09-25T21:18:00.000-04:00

Here is a position overseen at the coffeehouse. The tactics in it were overlooked by the players. Ok, the position here is subject to my memory, but the basic tactic is there.

Black to move

Here black didn't quite find the winning idea Be6 Ng5 Re1+ Kh2 Bd6 pinning the rook. (sideline: Be6 Rc4 Re1+ Kh2 Bg1+ Kg3 Bxf7)

Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me in my tactics training. I'm about halfway through level 30 at 95%. Knock on wood, but I think I'll beat my old 86% score for this level.

Level 20, rep 4

2007-09-18T23:23:00.000-04:00

I finished level 20 rep 4. Significantly faster than last time through and at a higher percentage -- 98% (up from 92%, 94%, 95%). On to the real test of level 30, the real thorn in my side. I'm out of town Thursday to Monday which will slow me down a little. That's life, no wonder I can't do it the same as DLM.

Some concrete things I wrote down this time through:
-- Exercises 145 and 352 are the same
-- Exercises 217 and 228 are the same

Improvement!

2007-09-15T12:29:00.000-04:00

I've just completed my 3rd repetition of level 40 of CT-Art and finally I have seen a significant improvement in my solving percentage.

Level    Rep 1   Rep 2   Rep 3
-------------------------------
10       97%     99%     99%
20       92%     94%     95%
30       86%     86%     86%
40       77%     77%     84%

That is a major improvement on level 40 problems. This isn't from memorizing the problems, I am really calculating better on this level. Incidentally, I also noticed a couple more problems with secondary solutions. Maybe next time through I'll start recording all these.

It is now 20 days since I last restarted on level 10. So according to my 3 week schedule, I'll start back at level 10 rather than move up to level 50. I think my last "3 weeks" to do levels 10 through 40 was actually 22 days. So I am only slightly faster -- though over the last 3 weeks I've spent time playing more games and analyzing them, so I'm not too concerned. I think I'll be much faster over the next 3 weeks.

Update: I just did level 10 for a fourth rep. Finally a perfect score, no mistakes! It took me just under 40 minutes to do the 110 problems of level 10.

Chess Life History

2007-09-10T23:14:00.000-04:00

A hat tip to Castling Queenside for posting about a program that will strip out nifty data from your MSA record at USCF. It's a nice trip down memory lane, and I like the graph feature. I recall seeing a similar utility for making ratings graphs a while back, I think it might have been a Flash plugin.

A swindle and another BOOC ending

2007-09-08T19:28:00.000-04:00

I had some interesting positions from the coffeehouse this week.

Here is one from a game I was losing. It was a complicated middle game where we both had chances. My opponent sacked the exchange and got a couple pawns for it. We pick up a position where I'm barely hanging on, trying to harrass my opponents two minor pieces to keep him from making progress. Then I spot a swindle:

Black to move

After Rg7+, black blunders with Kh4?. Checkmate follows in two moves.

I also wound up in another bishops of opposite color endgame. I believe this is not just a simple draw because of the presence of the rooks. Here is one interesting point.

Black to move

There must be something I am mis-remembering about this position since Ra8 just hangs the rook to Bxa8 -- For now I imagine the rook might have been on b6.

The white king is approaching black's passed pawns. Black wants to keep the king away and at the same time try to penetrate and attack white's kingside pawns. Unfortunately, the rook is tied down to the defense of the b-pawn. Since b4 allows Kc4, black has to find Ra8! where the response Rxb5 is met by Ra3+ Ke2 (Ke4 Re3#) Ra2+ Kf1 Rf2+ followed by taking the bishop or a discovered check to win the rook.

We pick up the game a little later. Black was able to bring the rook around and win the a2 pawn. Now black threatens the b3 pawn. White has found a way to defend it twice.

Black to move

Here I chose a simplifying sacrifice. Bxg3+ Rxg3 Rxg3 Kxg3 b3 and white doesn't have the resources to stop so many pawns. Notice that even the h and f pawns protect each other with a classic trick of two pawns separated by one file against a king. If Kh4 f4 then white can't play Kxh5 because the f-pawn will promote. So the bishop is tied to the b-pawn promotion square and the king is tied to the h-pawn which it cannot attack. The black king is free to do whatever black likes, take the e-pawn, help support the c and b pawns or the e and f pawns.

level 30, rep 3 -- I still stink

2007-09-07T18:29:00.000-04:00

I've finished level 30 for the 3rd time. And for the 3rd time I've scored an 86%.

Of course, this is very disappointing for me. I'm not going to change my current plan just yet. I have a little over a week before I start over again at level 10. I'd like to give that idea more time.

My loss to the Budapest

2007-09-04T22:12:00.000-04:00

One of my games at the coffeehouse last weekend was against the Budapest. This is a gambit for black that starts 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4. I don't like letting black have all the initiative, so I play a line that gives the pawn back. I have a feeling I'll be seeing the Budapest on a regular basis from this opponent, so if anyone has comments on any line of the Budapest, I'd be happy to hear it.

I posted the whole game at chesslog. I'll say a little more about two positions here.

After the opening moves, 4. Bf4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Qe7 7. a3 Ngxe5 8. Nxe5 Nxe5 9. e3 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Be2 d6 12. O-O b6

White to move

Black has just played b6, no doubt to put his bishop on the long diagonal. I tried for a while to calculate something that would take advantage of the open diagonal before the bishop develops. The immediate Qd5 is met by c6. Bxe5 Qxe5 Bf3 doesn't get anywhere after Rb8.

Instead I settled on trying for a kind of minority attack. If I can break down the queenside pawns, black will be saddled with a weak, attackable structure. The game continued 13. b4 Bb7 14. Rab1 Rad8 15. Qc3 Qf6 16. Bxe5 dxe5 17. c5 h5 18. b5

White to move

I'm keeping with my plan of breaking down the queenside pawns. Unfortunately, I've underestimated the attacking that's coming on my king. I also misplay the defense pretty badly. 18. ... bxc5 19. Qxc5 Qg6 Black lets his third pawn hang without protection, it's as if my plans are working. Until, 20. f3 Rd2 21. Qc4?? This should have been immediately punished by Bd5. Black still won with 21. ... e4 22. f4 Bd5 23. Qc5 Rxe2 24. g3 Be6 25. f5 Qg5 0-1

It's important to take care of your house before you steal from your neighbors garden.