Monday, May 3, 2021

Endgames are Tricky! - And LCCC Meetings 041221 and 042621 Were Fun!

 Sorry for the delay in posting. Lots going on in life that gets in the way of chess blogging.

Anyway, we had nine members at the Monday April 26 meeting and we grew to our highest total since the re-start to 12 members! Welcome all!

Our next meeting is Monday May 10th at 4pm until at least 9pm. So feel free to stop by. 

We continue - as a club - to move up the Chess .com standings in the club rankings. We are nearing 500 wins as a club! Most clubs never get near that number. 

If you like playing chess in a way that is basically - postal chess on Chess .com, then come join the Livingston County Chess Club on Chess .com and then sign up for the Team Matches as they become available. We don't care if you win or lose - just don't forfiet on time.

Also, if you are on the LCCC on Chess .com and are not playing in any Daily tournaments for us, don't be surprised if you are booted out of the club on that site. We cannot have players listed on our club that do not play in our Daily matches occasionally. The main reason is that it makes our club look bigger than we are, but also your rating may inflate our Team rating. Both factors may stop some teams from challenging us or accepting our challenges. You don't have to play in them all or even half of them. But some participation is required to stay on the on-line club on Chess .com.

 Why no one would play at least a few games this way is a mystery to me. To have a few games going that you have 3 days to make a move seems fun and relaxing to me. And the fact you can play or analyze from your phone, takes away just about any excuse I can think of.

Now for the endgame magic!


White to move and win. The material is even but White has a huge positional lead says Igor3000. But how?

Very  tricky endgame here. White must somehow stop the more advanced a-pawn of Black's and at the same time try to promote his only chance to win - his own g-pawn.

First things first!

1. Bb1      

Needed to stop the a-pawn. No other move wins. 

1. Bc2+ makes the position even.

1. g6? will let Black queen his pawn first and is losing for White! 

1. ......          f4

"Passed pawns must be pushed." Understandable for Black. The f-pawn is the only pawn White cannot stop without wasting another move. But now what does White do?

2.  Kc5!        .......

Threatening mate in one move with Bc2, so Black must delay his pawn advance by another move.

2. ......           Kb3

3. g6             Kb2

Black must remove the bishop in order to queen his pawn. But this takes too much time.

4. g7             Kxb1

5. g8 =Q       a2

White's queen must first stop the a-pawn and at the same time either sweep up all the Black pawns or set a mate trap by allowing a queened pawn.

6. Qg1=        Kb2

7.  Qd4+        Kb1

8. Qd3+         Kb2

9. Qb5+         Kc2  (or even if Ka1, White's next move is the same)

10. Qxa5        Kb2

11. Qd2+       Kb1

12. Kb4         d4   (12. ....a8=Q is a mating net with 13. Kb3 and mate soon to follow.)

13. Qd1+      Kb2

14. Qb3+      Kc1  (14. ...Ka1 allows 15. Kc4, 16. Kxd4, 17. Kc3 and 18. Qb2++)

15. Qxa2       Kd1

16. Qf2          Kc1

17.  Kc4        f3    (Black is trapped on the back rank and his pawns won't make it to the finish line.)

18. Kxd4       Kb2

19. Kc3          Ka1

20. Qb2++

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