British Championships 2012 - Games

[Joey Stewart]

Oh yeah, I bet when he analyses that position afterwards and finds out he missed a win in 30 he will be so annoyed... who would ever miss such a thing over the board eh?

[Thomas Rendle]

It's quite easy to be honest. The Bishop sits on c8/d7 and then f5 can never be played. If the Bishop is on b1-e4 then the King can go to e5 without losing g4. Electronic support not really needed.

[JustinHorton]

Oh yeah, I bet when he analyses that position afterwards and finds out he missed a win in 30 he will be so annoyed.

I imagine he may very well be annoyed to miss a win in an ending which is otherwise drawn. It's mate in 30, not a win in 30, by the way.

[Thomas Rendle]

I'm not convinced Black has any idea how to try and hold it so a White win is still possible. Let's wait and see.

[E Michael White]

Oh yeah, I bet when he analyses that position afterwards and finds out he missed a win in 30 he will be so annoyed... who would ever miss such a thing over the board eh?

Bet he considered 55.f4 and picked the wrong one.

He can still back peddle to a winning position I think. Be warned engines get confused in endgames as most dont handle the hash table very well and may pull out a stale position.

That's kind of what I was trying not to give away.

posted before yours but the forum software made me wait.

[Thomas Rendle]

In fact 60..Ke8 may well (probably is) losing. Kg3, f4 coming now

[Paul Cooksey]

It's quite easy to be honest. The Bishop sits on c8/d7 and then f5 can never be played. If the Bishop is on b1-e4 then the King can go to e5 without losing g4. Electronic support not really needed.

Show off

I'll admit to being very surprised, it wasn't obvious to me that black wouldn't have time to reroute the bishop to the right diagonal with the pawns that far back.

A vague recollection of Averbakh doesn't get you far these days does it! Thanks to Justin for the online link, at least it saves me hunting through the storage boxes.

[E Michael White]

Kg3 has been played so back peddling works if followed by f4. If I'm right about the hash table engine evaluations will kick up now.

[Joey Stewart]

It is a nice position to be able to probe into, I guess the pressure is more on white here as it feels as though anything less then a win would be unacceptable even if there are drawing resources available.

[Thomas Rendle]

Pressure is on both players, I think it's just dawned on Black (given the time that he's taken) that he doesn't have a defence here. My guess is he thought any line was enough to draw.

[Paul Cooksey]

Kg3 has been played so back peddling works if followed by f4. If I'm right about the hash table engine evaluations will kick up now.

Back peddling ok, because black didn't take the opportunity to shift the bishop to the correct diagonal. Tablebase gives a draw with the bishop on d7 instead of e4, as Tom explained.

Not that I'm criticising black. I'd have lost this to Tom, even if I hadn't need to play the preceding game.

[JustinHorton]

A vague recollection of Averbakh doesn't get you far these days does it! Thanks to Justin for the online link, at least it saves me hunting through the storage boxes.

Really curious. It turns out that Black's bishop just happens to be on a lousy diagonal but there's only one way to take advantage of it.

God, I wished I'd looked at endgames when I was younger rather than all those openings. Gaaaah.

[Simon Brown]

Mackle is winning now. f4 then f5 and the defence he had before doesn't work because sadly he can't go to e8 and d9! Amazed black didn't find the defence over the board as it's not that difficult to spot.

[JustinHorton]

He wasn't overburdened with time.

[Simon Brown]

Remember he offered the exchange of Qs. Probably thought it was a trivial draw. Which it was!