The Back Rank

A swindle and another BOOC ending

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:


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.



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.

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.

Labels: booc, coffeehouse, diagrams, endgame, swindle, tactics

posted by Loomis @ 7:28 PM 3 comments Leave a comment

Random positions

Not a whole lot to say lately. Just plugging along. Here are some positions from recent games:

White is a little more developed due to the rook on d1. More importantly, white's pieces are actually aimed at targets. The e3 bishop attacks the b6 knight and the d2 queen is lined up on d7 bishop while both of these pieces are defended by the queen. Also important is that the d1 rook is lined up on the queen.

So white opens it up with d5 exd5 Bxb6, the game continued with Qxb6. A better try, but still good for white would have been axb6 exd5 Be8 Qxc4. The game move loses quickly exd5 and now both bishops are under attack.

Lastly, an update on CT-Art progress. The last level is problems with difficulty 90 and above:
Level 90 and above: 74%, 22 problems done, 45 to go.
Ct-Art elo: 2587
1164 problems done, 45 left. Then, who knows, back to the beginning??

Labels: diagrams, progress report, swindle, tactics

posted by Loomis @ 3:47 PM 2 comments Leave a comment