Bobby vs Spassky game 1

[AlanLlewellyn]

yes i was lucky there he just made an uncharacteristic patzer move in taking the pawn without thinking

[AlanLlewellyn]

i took the pawn on d5 with the wrong piece in the game which would have got me back the pawn anyway which i lost.

[John Hodgson]

I don't think engines are quite strong enough to 'solve' this ending.

I believe Speelman's original conclusion to be essentially true: that Bxh2 was a bad move, but not losing. The mistakes came later.

However, only White had winning chances, so why take the risk in the first place?

How does Black draw this ending?

As far as I can see, the engines seem to favour White. I would not make any claim that this is conclusive without methodically refuting Black's drawing attempts one by one, but perhaps the onus probandi is on supporters of the Black side to give their drawing line?

[Nick Ivell]

The main idea is to set up a fortress with the king on a8. In these circumstances, with White having the 'wrong' bishop, Black can be a whole piece down and still draw.

Engines are not the best when it comes to defence by fortress.

[John Hodgson]

The main idea is to set up a fortress with the king on a8. In these circumstances, with White having the 'wrong' bishop, Black can be a whole piece down and still draw.

Engines are not the best when it comes to defence by fortress.

I can see I asked the wrong question!

I'll try again: By what precise moves does Black reach this fortress?

(There's quite a lot of human pre-engine analysis on ChessBase and only one drawing line. I suggested above that there seems to be a clear win in that line, but I did suggest another try)

[AlanLlewellyn]

havent we lost the point when the analysis for a win is so intricate that it takes a computer to find the 'correct' line, surely unless they allow you to go into the game room with a computer(which i am not advocating) isnt it just trivial. isnt it likely in a game between two human players -that they will swap off the kingside pawn and thus automatically draw if theyre king can get back. note not just the wrong bishop draws but pawns on a5 and b6 for white and the bishop and black pawns on a6 and b7 also draw if the king gets back to defend.

[AlanLlewellyn]

ive also been a piece and a pawn down in an endgame and it be a knight pawn and it still draw i will post the game below:-[Event "Welsh Championships-Open/Major"] [Site "Cardiff, park inn"] [Date "2013.03.29"] [Round "1"] [White "Buttell, David"] [Black "Llewellyn, Alan Mansel"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D82"] [WhiteElo "1820"] [BlackElo "1400"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "120"] [EventDate "2013.03.29"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "WLS"] {For this tournament i travelled around 300 miles!!! in my old mercedes down to Cardiff from Southern Lake District in England. 7 games held over easter weekend good friday to easter monday ie 4 days 1 game on friday 2 the other 3 days. The time control was a proper fide one, namely 40 moves in 90 minutes, and 30 minutes added after that with an added incremement of 30 seconds for every move. Note the tournament was FIDE rated.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 $2 6. Nf3 (6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Qa4+ Qxa4 8. Nxa4 $16) 6... Nc6 7. Be2 cxd4 8. Nxd4 O-O (8... e5 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bxe5 $16) 9. O-O a6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Be5 Ne4 $6 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Qd4+ Nf6 14. Rfd1 Bb7 15. Bf3 dxc4 $2 16. Qxc4 Qc7 17. Rac1 Rab8 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. Rxd5 $3 Rfd8 20. Rc5 Rbc8 21. g3 Qb8 22. b4 Kg8 23. a4 e6 24. Qc3 Qd6 $2 25. b5 Qxc5 26. Qxc5 cxb5 27. Bxb7 Rxc5 28. Rxc5 bxa4 29. Bxa6 Rd1+ 30. Kg2 a3 31. Rc2 Rd6 32. Be2 Rd7 $6 33. Ra2 (33. Rc8+ Kg7 34. Ra8) 33... Ra7 34. Kf3 Kf8 35. Bd3 Ke7 36. Ke2 Kd6 37. Kd2 e5 38. Kc3 f5 39. Kb3 f4 40. exf4 exf4 41. Rxa3 Rb7+ 42. Kc2 fxg3 43. fxg3 Rf7 44. Ra6+ Ke5 45. h4 Rf3 46. Bxg6 Rxg3 47. Bxh7 Rh3 48. Ra5+ Kf6 49. h5 Rg3 50. Ra6+ Kg7 51. Rg6+ $4 Rxg6 52. hxg6 Kh8 53. Kd3 Kg7 54. Ke4 Kh8 55. Kf5 Kg7 56. Kg5 Kh8 57. Kf5 Kg7 {Diagram [#]} 58. Bg8 Kxg8 59. Kg4 Kg7 60. Kf5 Kg8 1/2-1/2

[AlanLlewellyn]

the game with Buttell must be one of my flukiest draws

[Matt Mackenzie]

This may be as good a place as any to note that it is the 50th anniversary of RJF winning the world chess title when Spassky resigned game 21.