Swindling for Amateurs, again....

In this position, the correct move ( apart from resignation on Black's part :)  is Kg6.

However, since the game is technically, well actually, completely lost for me, there is only one move for the swindler : Kh5.

Happily, a greedy White player falls into the trap !

Rxf6 ??

Stalemate : its a brilliant last weapon, and so irritating in positions that are completely lost  !!!

T48 - Playoffs

Magnum Ignotum fell at the last hurdle...the last result deciding the playoffs was the expected one that left our chance of the wildcard spot at the mercy of the rules.

We were level on match point, games points and forfeits with the next team ( King, Pawn and Rook ) who had led their section prior to this game, so I guess it was the fourth board reduction rule that we lost out on. Good luck to them in the playoffs.

Shame, but at least some sort of chess break before the next T4545 !

Swindling for Amateurs

Black is lost. After a slip that lost his Rook advantage we have this position....

...where White is preparing to finish things.

I can see no hope, only a vague swindle, after White mistakenly moved off the a8-h1 diagonal, allowing a 'spite check', to which White is forced to play Kh2 ( since Re4 is met by Nf2+ ! )

So what is Black hoping for ? what should White NOT play after Black's next move of h6 ?

...Continue reading...

White to move and win

From a recent blitz game : White to move and win

[1r4nr/3p2pp/p2Nk1n1/1p2pR2/8/1N6/PPP3PP/3R2K1 w - - 0 1]

Team League 4545 - T48 - R6 : Playing the other side

It's been a while since I blogged : business travel occupying me, with many thousands of kilometres now clocked up, mainly because of  two 12-hour flights, halfway across the world !

However now that I have all that behind me, I'm back into the last chess games of the present T4545 season.

The Magnum Ignotum U1600 team has not quite made the playoffs. We have to rely on other team's favourable results as well as winning ourselves, and , although there are still some games to finish, I think that we are out.

Magnum Ignotum U1800 is a different story. We are second in our division, but might go through to the play-offs as "best second place" or similar. Again dependent on final results of other teams In my own case though, 3 games played in the last week for the U1600  : 2 losses and finally, a win, which I will show here since it is the freshest game.

A surprise for me. Reconnaissance had prepared me for a Sicilian ( my opponent's recent outing ) a classical e5 reply ( the most likely ) or, from very old games, a French.

Imagine my surprise when 2...d6 was wheeled out after e5 and I was White facing the defence I play most as Black : the Philidor !

...Continue reading...