Beautiful endgames!

Technical questions regarding Openings, Middlegames, Endings etc.
Keith Arkell
Posts: 928
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:10 am

Beautiful endgames!

Post by Keith Arkell » Wed May 20, 2015 12:20 am

I guess most players would agree a draw in this position,because, apart from any other considerations, the forced checkmate in 170 moves rides roughshod over the 50 move rule. It is fascinating, nonetheless, because of the way White gradually improves the position of his King and Knights, eventually forcing a winning NN v P ending. I constructed it while tinkering about with the solved 7 piece Lomonosov tablebases.

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/5n2/2kp4/2N5/3P4/4N3/4K3 w - -"]

1.Nd2 Kb4 2.d4 Ka3 3.Nf3 Ne4 4.Ne5 Kb2 5.Kd1 Ng5 6.Ng6 Nf3 7.Ne7 Kb3 8.Nf5 Kb2
9.Nd6 Kb3 10.Kc1 Ng5 11.Kd2 Nf3+ 12.Ke3 Ne1 13.Nf4 Nc2+ 14.Kd3 Nb4+ 15.Kd2 Nc6
16.Nf5 Kc4 17.Ne6 Kb3 18.Ng5 Na7 19.Nf7 Nb5 20.N7d6 Nc7 21.Nb7 Nb5 22.Kd3 Na7
23.Ne7 Nb5 24.Nc8 Kb4 25.Ncd6 Na7 26.Nc5 Nc6 27.Nc8 Ka5 28.Kc3 Kb5 29.Nd7 Nd8
30.Ne7 Ne6 31.Nf5 Nd8 32.Kb3 Ne6 33.Ne5 Nd8 34.Ng3 Ne6 35.Nf3 Nd8 36.Ne2 Ne6
37.Nh4 Nd8 38.Nc3+ Ka5 39.Nf5 Ne6 40.Ka3 Nd8 41.Ne3 Ne6 42.Nc2 Nf4 43.Kb2 Nd3+
44.Kb1 Nf4 45.Kc1 Ne6 46.Kd2 Ka6 47.Ke2 Nd8 48.Ke3 Ne6 49.Kf3 Nd8 50.Kf4 Nc6
51.Kf5 Kb6 52.Ke6 Kc7 53.Ne2 Nd8+ 54.Kf6 Nc6 55.Nf4 Na5 56.Ke6 Nc6 57.Kf7 Na7
58.Ke8 Nb5 59.Ke7 Kc6 60.Ne2 Kc7 61.Nb4 Kc8 62.Na2 Kb7 63.Nac3 Na3 64.Kd6 Nc2
65.Na4 Ka6 66.Kc5 Kb7 67.Nb2 Kc7 68.Nd3 Ne3 69.Ng3 Kd7 70.Nf4 Ke8 71.Kd6 Kf7
72.Ke5 Nc2 73.Nf5 Ne1 74.Ne2 Nf3+ 75.Kf4 Nd2 76.Ne3 Ke6 77.Nc2 Nc4 78.Nb4 Nd2
79.Nc3 Nb3 80.Nb5 Kd7 81.Kf3 Nd2+ 82.Ke3 Nc4+ 83.Kf4 Nd2 84.Nd3 Nb3 85.Ne5+
Ke7 86.Kf3 Ke6 87.Ke3 Na5 88.Nc3 Kf5 89.Kf3 Kg5 90.Nb5 Nb7 91.Nc6 Kf5 92.Kg3
Ke6 93.Nc3 Kd6 94.Ne5 Ke6 95.Kf4 Nd6 96.Nc6 Nb7 97.Kg4 Kd6 98.Ne5 Ke6 99.Ne2
Ke7 100.Nf4 Kd6 101.Kf3 Na5 102.Kf2 Nb7 103.Ke2 Na5 104.Kd2 Nb3+ 105.Kc3 Nxd4
106.Kxd4 Ke7 107.Ng4 Kd7 108.Nh2 Kc6 109.Nf3 Kd6 110.Nd3 Ke6 111.Kc5 d4 112.
Kc6 Ke7 113.Kd5 Kf6 114.Nd2 Kf5 115.Kd6 Kf6 116.Kd7 Kf5 117.Ke7 Kg6 118.Ke6
Kg5 119.Ke5 Kg6 120.Ne4 Kg7 121.Kd6 Kh7 122.Nef2 Kg7 123.Ng4 Kf8 124.Ke6 Ke8
125.Nf6+ Kd8 126.Nd5 Ke8 127.Nc7+ Kd8 128.Kd6 Kc8 129.Ne6 Kb8 130.Kc5 Ka7 131.
Kc6 Ka6 132.Ng5 Ka5 133.Nf3 Ka4 134.Nd2 Ka5 135.Kc5 Ka6 136.Nc4 Kb7 137.Kd6
Kc8 138.Na5 Kd8 139.Nb7+ Ke8 140.Ke6 Kf8 141.Nd6 Kg7 142.Kf5 Kh6 143.Kf6 Kh5
144.Nf7 Kg4 145.Ng5 Kh4 146.Kf5 Kg3 147.Ke4 Kg4 148.Nf7 Kg3 149.Nfe5 Kh4 150.
Kf5 Kh5 151.Ng4 Kh4 152.Nf6 Kh3 153.Ke5 Kg3 154.Ke4 Kh3 155.Kf3 Kh4 156.Kf4
Kh3 157.Ne8 Kh4 158.Ng7 Kh3 159.Nf5 Kh2 160.Kg4 Kg2 161.Ng3 Kg1 162.Ne4 Kf1
163.Kf3 Kg1 164.Nd2 Kh2 165.Nf4 d3 166.Kf2 Kh1 167.Kg3 Kg1 168.Nh3+ Kh1 169.
Ne4 d2 170.Nef2# 1-0

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed May 20, 2015 12:38 am

I think it needs pgn tags

The two Knights against a pawn ending is not infrequent. I had a losing one against Eddie Dearing in the 4NCL. This was a thematically a Kings Indian where my pawn on e5 was blockaded by Knights on e3 and e2. The obvious approach of forcing the opposing King to a corner before allowing the not stalemate move of e5-e4 was the winning method


Keith Arkell
Posts: 928
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:10 am

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by Keith Arkell » Wed May 20, 2015 1:04 am

Cheers, Roger :)

Gordon Cadden
Posts: 490
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 4:57 pm

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by Gordon Cadden » Mon Jun 01, 2015 2:31 pm

This is fascinating. Not possible to achieve 170 moves in Week-end Tournaments, because of the "sudden death" finishes.
Is this a constructed endgame ?

Keith Arkell
Posts: 928
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:10 am

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by Keith Arkell » Mon Jun 01, 2015 5:12 pm

I constructed it by playing around with tablebases, Gordon.

Keith Arkell
Posts: 928
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:10 am

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by Keith Arkell » Tue Jun 02, 2015 2:08 am

Here's another one. I've created it from a 1971 game between Kholmov and Vasiukov, which was analysed in the book Exploring the Endgame' by Peter Griffiths. White played 1...Qe3 ( actually, it was 92...Qe3), and won, but with best play it is drawn after 2. Bxc2+. On the other hand, Black wins by force, in 81 more moves, after 1...Qd2! Jack, Roger - help! I really should learn how to do this 'FEN' stuff!


User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4818
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Tue Jun 02, 2015 2:56 pm

Here's one I made earlier:


User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4818
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Thu Jun 04, 2015 12:23 am

109 moves with Q+B+N v Q+N:


LawrenceCooper
Posts: 7173
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:13 am

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Jun 08, 2015 7:01 pm

I'm not sure about beauty but the Apicella-Koch game today featured R,B&N v R&B which was won 31 moves after the last pawn disappeared. https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... 015/10/1/5

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Re: Beautiful endgames!

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Fri Jul 03, 2015 11:12 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:I think it needs pgn tags

The two Knights against a pawn ending is not infrequent. I had a losing one against Eddie Dearing in the 4NCL. This was a thematically a Kings Indian where my pawn on e5 was blockaded by Knights on e3 and e2. The obvious approach of forcing the opposing King to a corner before allowing the not stalemate move of e5-e4 was the winning method

I suspect the news of under 50 move rule has not reached England!!