Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!


Contact
Ace:
aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com
Buck:
buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com
CBD:
cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com
joe mannix:
mannix2024 at proton.me
MisHum:
petmorons at gee mail.com
J.J. Sefton:
sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com


Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups






















« Ace of Spades Pet Thread [Mis. Hum.] | Main | Overnight Open Thread (30 Apr 2016) »
April 30, 2016

Saturday Afternoon Chess/Open Thread 04-30-2016 [OregonMuse]


chess city 525.jpg
"Come To Chess City!"


Good afternoon morons and moronettes, and welcome to the Sunday Afternoon Chess/Open Thread, the only AoSHQ thread with content specifically for all of us chess nerds who pay homage in the temple of Caïssa, goddess of outside passed pawns and Modern Chess Openings. And, for those of you who aren't, you can use this thread to talk about checkers, or tiddlywinks, or Tigglypuff, or whatever you wish. Only please try to keep it civil. Nobody wants to get into a pie fight on a Saturday afternoon.

“Nowadays, because of computers, a 13-year-old would probably know more than Bobby Fischer knew when he retired.”
--Garry Kasparov


Endgame Study

This is another one whose solution eluded me. And after I saw it, I said "duh". Hopefully, you'll do better. It's White to play and win.


20160430 - Endgame Study.jpg
FEN: [2R5/8/8/8/8/5p2/6Pp/1k1K4 w - - 0 1]


One Knight Too Many

Over on our awesome chess.com group, GOOCH asks:

I think one of my weaknesses is the middle game in general and, in particular, dealing with knight threats. I have trouble arresting their march into my territory, despite good pawn structure, and knights are almost always behind my most frequent blunders. Anyone have any good tips on this they'd like to share? I'm open ears...

Yeah, no doubt about it, knights are tricksy little guys. For example:


20160430 - 3 Knights Tango.jpg
FEN: [7n/k1K5/7n/1q6/2P5/8/8/7n w - - 0 1]

This position is one of the ones found in the Lomosomov Tablebases, a giant database that contains all 7-piece endings:

7-man tablebases were calculated in 2012 on Computer Science department of Moscow State University. Calculations were done on supercomputer named Lomonosov...The tablebases contain the exact evaluations (draw or moves to mate) for all positions with no more than 7 pieces on the board. The total number of positions in the tables – more than 500 trillions (500 000 billions).

There's an Android app that allows you to train on endgame positions. This is where this problem came from.

And I have not been able to solve this it. I can only get so far: after I queen the pawn, which is easy, I can usually figure out a way to force the Black king into a fork and pick off one of the knights. But then Black manages to bury the king in one of the corners with the knights right next to him, and once that happens, I don't see any way how to pry him out.

Actually, I don't even know if forcing a mate from this position is possible within the constraints of the 50-move rule. So perhaps this problem is of theoretical interest only.


Yoot Chess

In United States chess, things are definitely looking up:

Benjamin Kwon does not look like a gladiator, but you should see him play the Fried Liver Attack, a wildly aggressive chess opening that wages an all-out assault on the opposing player’s king. The opening is not for the fainthearted.

On a recent Friday afternoon, he beamed as he rattled off the first moves for both sides: pawn to E4, pawn to E5, bishop to C4, and so on, until he got to the real moment of attack, knight to G5. This is where the Fried Liver Attack gets hairy. “Nothing can block it,” he said, his face lighting up.

Benjamin Kwon is 6 years old.

According to the current ratings list, Kwon's is only 684, so he's not exactly a phenom. But he's conversing about chess topics intelligently so you know he's going to get better. And not just Kwon. These days, many schools all across the country have chess integrated into the curriculum.

Chess is even used as a tool to reform juvenile criminals based on the theory that it cultivates habits of thinking that will help them make better decisions with their lives.

And because of this, because we're finally accessing a huge talent pool, we're eventually going to be cranking out champions. Only from the bottom up. Right now, 3 out of the top 10 players in the world are from the United States (So, Nakamura, Caruana). And this is only the beginning.

Thanks to CBD for the tip.

White Mates in 5


20160430 - mate in 5.jpg
FEN: [1k1r4/pp5p/7p/1N1p1pq1/P2N3b/2P4P/1P2Qn2/R3RK2 w - - 0 1]

This problem is a good one to remember. The move sequence of the solution, and the piece configuration at the end, is one that comes up a lot in chess, and if you play enough chess, you'll eventually see this theme, or variations on this theme, occur in your games. Chess is mainly pattern recognition, and this is one pattern you should be able to recognize.

Thanks to 'Burn the Witch' for this problem


Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

There's not an actual chess club anywhere close to where I live (which is odd, this being a college town), but I did find a group of old guys who meet at a senior center every Wednesday morning for chess. And since I'm not all that younger than most of them, I fit right in. Here's a game I played at the senior center earlier this week. I managed, with great skill, to completely eff the whole thing up. This is the position after 11 moves:


20160430 - snatching defeat.jpg
After 11.Ng5
FEN: [r2q1r1k/ppp2p1p/2np3Q/2bNp1Np/2B1P1b1/3P4/PPP2PPP/R4RK1 b - - 0 11]

At this point, I figure I have a completely won game. Black will realize that the pressure on his pawn on h2 is irresistible, and even without that, there's a Big Gaping Hole where his king-side defenses used to be. So I sat there, patiently waiting for his resignation. Instead, he hit me with this:

11...Qxg5

OK, fine, Black wants to drag it out a bit. The pressure is now off his h2 pawn, but it cost him his queen. He's still lost.

12. Qxg5 Rg8

Remember that Big Gaping Hole I spoke about earlier? Well, it kind of works both ways, doesn't it? Now what am I going to do with my queen?

13. Qh6

Perhaps better was 13. Qf6+, but if 13...Rg7, I'm not sure what would be a good follow-up. He's threatening Rag8 and now I've got a rook battery staring down my throat.

13...Bh3
14. Qf6+?

And here my troubles begin. I should have played 14. g3 and let him have the exchange. I can afford it.

14...Rg7
15. Kh1??

Bzzzt! Wrong! 15. g3 was mandatory. What was I thinking? Now I'm busted.

15...Bxg2+
16. Kg1 Bxe4+
17. Qg5 Rxg5# 0-1

I see 3 takeaways from this:

1. Many times, the way to refute a sacrifice is to return the material at the appropriate time for a lasting positional advantage.

2. If you think you've got the game won, sit back, take a deep breath, and re-examine the position for counterattacking chances you might have to face. Don't be like the wide receiver whom the instant replay shows looking at the end zone as the ball slips through his fingers.

3. If you think you've lost, look again.

Despite my maladroit blundering, I still think I have a won game at the original position. But it wouldn't have been as quick as I thought, and I would've had to guard against counterattacks.

I was flustered at how quickly my I was able to turn a totally winning position into poo. So I totally missed 17.Qxg7+ Kxg7 18.dxe4, which puts me, basically, up a rook. White's 18th suggests that instead of 16...Bxe4+, Black should have played 16...Bf3+. OK, so I never had the slam dunk I thought I had. Dang chess.


___________

That cryptic line of letters and numbers you see underneath each board diagram is a representation of the position in what is known as "Forsyth-Edwards Notation", or F.E.N. It's actually readable by humans. Most computer applications nowadays can read FEN, so those of you who may want to study the position, you can copy the line of FEN and paste into your chess app and it should automatically recreate the position on its display board.

___________

So that about wraps it up for this week. Chess thread tips, suggestions, bribes, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to my yahoo address: OregonMuse little-a-in-a-circle yahoo dott com.

digg this
posted by Open Blogger at 05:01 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
LizLem: "Night gang, running away to play D&D on discord. ..."

browndog is not a man of the people: " The only cringe part was her tongue bath of Huey ..."

Blanco Basura - Z28.310 [/i] [/b] [/u] [/s]: "[i]The Earth's plates are spinning to the tune of ..."

JackStraw: "Night all. https://tinyurl.com/bdhcd4mu ..."

Bertram Cabot, Jr.: "The Earth's plates are spinning to the tune of Sab ..."

LizLem: "Has anyone sent the new Shoeonhead vid? I guess he ..."

anchorbabe fashion cop: "Sexy voice: https://youtu.be/Q7-va0hr3aY?featur ..."

JackStraw: ">>Rogan is already blowing up on this report. ..."

Tom Servo: "That there are almost no public figures willing to ..."

Alberta Oil Peon: "Best Fogerty. https://tinyurl.com/37kubwzt Pos ..."

Notorious BFD: "Sigh. I guess a I need to lighten up a tad. ..."

Tom Servo: "No one except someone like Musk could do DOGE. Lo ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64