English Chess Forum

I swithered where to put this, but here is OK. General Knowledge in the General Thread.

J. Aitken - J. Cock, West England Ch. 1959. (White to play)

8/P4R2/r7/1K6/8/8/1k5p/8 w - - 0 51

Aitken played 51. Rh7 Rxa7 52. Rxh2+ draw agreed.

But James (I have entered that many games of his we are now on first name terms) added a '?' after 51.Rh7.

I got it, eventually, and without a doubt it would passed me by if I had not been told 'something on here.'

I dismissed the key idea because (a clue) is it not a rule of thumb you never give needless
check in a Rook Ending else you will just be chasing the King to potentially a better square.
(if it is not a 'Rule of Thumb' then it should be.....and make sure I get the credit for it.)

But what else? so I checked and checked again and...you know that glow moment chess sometimes gives you. I glowed.
James was a good Rook ending player. He missed it whilst hot at the board, I would have as well.

I 've never seen the idea before, or maybe I have and it never stuck (no glow).

[FEN "8/P4R2/r7/1K6/8/8/1k5p/8 w - - 0 51"] 51. Rf2+ Kc3 {It does not matter where the King goes as long as it stayed off the first rank.} 52. Rf3+ Kd4 {Now what? Aha.....the Rook is now on f3.....} 53. Kxa6 {This move is now possible because...} 53... h1=Q {If the Rook was not on f3 then the Queen would be covering a8.} 54. a8=Q

Of course I've not table based it, I'll leave that pleasure to someone else.
(maybe the Black King can go to another square on the checks. I've gone random.)
Black has the first check, is there a perpetual nuisance in there. It's a wide open board.
However, there are no Queen fork tricks on, the f3 Rook is Queen defended.

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Wed May 19, 2021 4:59 pm

Of course I've not table based it, I'll leave that pleasure to someone else.

Mate in 29 after Rf2+ according to Lomonosov.

Thanks Roger, I was actually a wee bit worried about.

I figured as soon as the Black checks dry up then it's a simple enough win.

I bet there are few squares where the White King cannot stray too else it is a perpetual.
The a8 Queen cannot block and if the Rook steps in then it may hang.

Have you seen the idea before. It is the kind of thing, once seen then the idea is part of the toolbox.

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Wed May 19, 2021 6:15 pm

Have you seen the idea before.

No. I actually got it quite quickly - once told it was there. I expect John Nunn knows all about it.