Chess thread

[The Baron]

If black declines then mate is tough. I'm not in front of a board though so kind of guesstimating until I'm home.

[Tal]

So this is our second position:



Good analysis, chaps. Let me do a quick synopsis/explanation for those on the rail...

We are choosing between 1.Rf5 and 1.Rxf7.

The situation is that Black can't move the pawn on g6 because that opens up the diagonal between our light squared bishop and the pawn on h7. We can then take that pawn with our queen and it is checkmate.

Black wants to stop that by playing his f-pawn to f5, which is another blocker on that nasty diagonal.

We think 1.Rf5 might work because it stops the villain putting a pawn there and has the clever threat of, if he takes the took with his g6 pawn, taking back with the bishop, leaving the bishop on the f5 square with nothing Black can do to stop mate on h7.

There is another idea behind Rf5 but we'll hear about that further, I expect (it has been touched upon in discussion).

The other idea is to take on f7 with our rook, although that one hasn't been explored much more than a suggestion.

What we need to do in this case is decide whether we can make 1.Rf5 work against any defence. Can we find checkmate if he plays f6 and tries to slide his King to safety, for example?

[EvilPie]

Rf5 stops black attacking the queen with his bishop, it threatens all sorts of attacks down the h-file.

Looks like a winner to me. What possible lines can black use to escape?

Qd7 looks like an immediate option to me.

Scrap that. Rg5 muffs it.

How about Bf6??

Rg5 leads to Re8 gives a protected escape route for the king as the queen's mating squares are covered.

I'm now thinking that maybe after Rf5 we need to drag that other rook across to f1 before we hop across to g5.

Getting that headache again

[kinboshi]

Yes, we can still force mate against f6.

[EvilPie]

Yes, we can still force mate against f6.

What would your reply be to Bf6?

[kinboshi]

Rf5 stops black attacking the queen with his bishop, it threatens all sorts of attacks down the h-file.
T
Looks like a winner to me. What possible lines can black use to escape?

Qd7 looks like an immediate option to me.

Scrap that. Rg5 muffs it.

How about Bf6??

Rg5 leads to Re8 gives a protected escape route for the king as the queen's mating squares are covered.

I'm now thinking that maybe after Rf5 we need to drag that other rook across to f1 before we hop across to g5.

Getting that headache again

Rook can shoot across to h5, rather than g5.  The rook to f5 sorts out all of white's immediate escapes, and allows a whole host of attacks.

But anyway, I'm at the NEC at a Muse gig. Should stop this chess analysis...

[tikay]

This is superb, even though it's way above my head.

Gotta have the blockers.


which is another blocker on that nasty diagonal

[Tal]

Who's up for giving the thread a proof then?

1.Rf5 Bf6
2.Rh5 Bg7
3.Qxh7 mate

(We've covered this one)

1.Rf5 g6xRf5
2.Bxf5 Bf6
3.Qxh7 mate

(And we've covered that one)

1.Rf5 f6
2.Rh5 Kf7
3 ?

[EvilPie]

Rf5 stops black attacking the queen with his bishop, it threatens all sorts of attacks down the h-file.
T
Looks like a winner to me. What possible lines can black use to escape?

Qd7 looks like an immediate option to me.

Scrap that. Rg5 muffs it.

How about Bf6??

Rg5 leads to Re8 gives a protected escape route for the king as the queen's mating squares are covered.

I'm now thinking that maybe after Rf5 we need to drag that other rook across to f1 before we hop across to g5.

Getting that headache again

Rook can shoot across to h5, rather than g5.  The rook to f5 sorts out all of white's immediate escapes, and allows a whole host of attacks.

But anyway, I'm at the NEC at a Muse gig. Should stop this chess analysis...

Sorry I meant Rh5 not Rg5.

Bf6 still looks a possible counter for black.

Rh5 gives Re8 which gives that escape for black's king via f8 and then e7.

Definitely think we need to bring that other rook across to f1 as white for a bit of extra backup before we steam over to h5.

EDIT: I'm posting this anyway despite Tal's previous post which he ninja'd me with. What he said may usurp this post

[Tal]

Usurpation unintended.

[EvilPie]

Who's up for giving the thread a proof then?

1.Rf5 Bf6
2.Rh5 Bg7
3.Qxh7 mate

(We've covered this one)

Can you continue this line for me please Tal.

1.Rf5 Bf6
2.Rh5 Re8
3.Qxh7 Kf8
4.......

Would also like to know a better move for white instead of Qxh7 if there is one.

Immediate threat seems dissipated and if we move Ke7 we can potentially swing our rook across to h8 to apply pressure to white's queen.

[EvilPie]

Off out to walk the hound and think about this position some more. I think I have it in my head!! Oh dear I may be getting in to chess!!

I expect a good reason why Bf6 won't work as a defence by the time I get back.

Don't panic we walk a long way. You've got ages!!

[Tal]

In positions like these, there will almost always be a variation or two where we don't get checkmate but we get a big enough material lead to call it a win. By way of example,

1.Rf5 Bg5
2.RxB Qf6

Stops the mate but you lose a whole bishop and are still not out of the woods. We can call that a win.

In the continuation you've given, EvilPie, I'd say after Ke8 we take the g6 pawn with our bishop and we are at least very much in front, whether he takes it back or not.

We've covered pretty much everything in that position; squeezed all the juice out of it. Even managed to drag some others, kicking and screaming with us

Great stuff
 

[Tal]

In Holland, Hikaru Nakamura recovered some pride after a humbling tournament performance a couple of weeks ago by winning the Unive event in Hoogeveen.

This was a 4 player double round robin (play each other as white and black), featuring two of Holland's top players - Danish Giri and Sergey Tiviakov - Nakamura and the women's world champion, China's Hou Yifan.

Nakamura won all three with white and drew all three with black. He played nicely in the key games and will surely regain some confidence with an undefeated record.

Nakamura will be one of the players in the London Chess Classic in December.

[Tal]

Here is the final crosstable:



This is Mr Nakamura:



Here is the 18 year old women's world champion, Miss Yifan:



And the final round report (from which these photos are lifted):

http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8587