I introduced this character last blog. Let us look at him in detail.
Now we see RookMan in action v BishopGirl.
(I do hope you lot appreciate the effort that goes into creating this blog.
I'm now at the drawing and colouring in cartoons stage which is a clear
sign that looking at your games has finally driven me completely insane.)
zgambit - tunnock RHP 2015
FEN
8/8/1p4B1/p4p1p/P5rP/1k5K/8/8 w - - 0 74
[FEN "8/8/1p4B1/p4p1p/P5rP/1k5K/8/8 w - - 0 74"] 74. Bxh5 {Don't do it RookMan..Don't do it....} 74... Rxa4 {He did it.} 75. Bd1+ Kb4 76. Bxa4 {Black resigned. But if, like me, you always look a bit deeper, we need to see that the Black pawns cannot pose a threat.} 76... Kxa4 77. h5 b5 78. h6 b4 79. h7 b3 80. h8=Q Ka3 81. Qa1+ Kb4 82. Kg3 a4 83. Qb2 a3 84. Qd4+ Kb5 85. Qc3 b2 86. Qb3+ {These pawns are not
going anywhere.}
Another classic RookMan game from this year.
Is it a good move? Is it a bad move? No...It's RookMan move.
grzehu - Jirayu RHP 2015
FEN
8/5R2/6p1/4k3/5bP1/3K1P2/8/8 w - - 0 50
[FEN "8/5R2/6p1/4k3/5bP1/3K1P2/8/8 w - - 0 50"] 50. Rf8 g5 {The clear way to win this is to sac the exchange with 2.Rf5+ Ke6 3.Rxf4 gxf4 4.Ke4 picking up the f-pawn and winning easily.} 51. Kc4 Bc1 {One solid rule of thumb when playing with a Rook against a Bishop is to keep the King and Rook on different coloured squares...} 52. Kc5 {...and you should not make blunders like this.} 52... Ba3+
Coming up next we see Black finding an imaginative way to lose.
HowardMordont - Reason on ISCA RHP 2015
FEN
2r5/5k2/6pp/1prP1p2/8/p4BP1/P2KRP1P/8 w - - 0 38
[FEN "2r5/5k2/6pp/1prP1p2/8/p4BP1/P2KRP1P/8 w - - 0 38"] 38. Bg2 Rc2+ 39. Kd3 Rxe2 40. Kxe2 Rc2+ 41. Ke3 Rxa2 {This is an easy Black win. Let's go onto to the next game.} 42. d6 {Well OK White can dream of giving a check on d5 forking the King and Rook but that is not going to happen.} 42... Ke6 {OOPS!} 43. Bd5+ {Bishop Girl strikes. The best chance is to take the d6 pawn but that should still lose after Bxa2.} 43... Kxd5 44. d7 {That pawn cannot be stopped.} 44... Rxf2 {Tricks like this won't work as the d-pawn promotes with a check.} 45. d8=Q+ Kc5 46. Qe7+ Kc4 47. Kxf2 {Black resigned.}
And finally to end this bit, just to show you shower are not always blundering. I offer you:
griffy - patwad RHP 2015
FEN
7k/p1pRr2p/2Pb4/8/6p1/1P1B4/P4PK1/8 w - - 0 44
[FEN "7k/p1pRr2p/2Pb4/8/6p1/1P1B4/P4PK1/8 w - - 0 44"] 44. a4 a5 45. Bf5 {A very crafty move. White shams an attack on the g-pawn the idea is revealed on White's the next move.} 45... h5 46. Rxd6 {Well played. The c6 pawn prompted this pawn-promo combination.} 46... cxd6 47. Bd7 {The pawn cannot be prevented from Queening.} 47... Rf7 48. c7 Rf8 {Black has to give up the Rook.} 49. c8=Q Rxc8 50. Bxc8 {White swept up the Black pawns and won without any trouble.}
We now pause in an attempt to bring some pure class to these page of woeful misery.
by admiring a wonderful chess study from the composer Karl Kubbel.(1892 - 1942).
The task (should you wish to accept it) is:
White to play and win. Just how do you stop that throbbing a-pawn.
FEN
3N4/8/K7/3k2B1/3p4/p7/2PP4/8 w - - 0 1
[FEN "3N4/8/K7/3k2B1/3p4/p7/2PP4/8 w - - 0 1"] 1. Nc6 {If White ignores the Knight and plays 1....a2 then 2. Nb4+ picks up the a2 pawn.} 1... Kxc6 2. Bf6 {Obviously if 2...a2 than 3.Bxd4 covers the Queen square.} 2... Kd5 3. d3 {The key must be involving a c4+ from White. But first White covers the flight squares.} 3... a2 4. c4+ {4...dxc3 ep 5.Bxc3 covers the Queening square and the lone d-pawn which Black cannot attack is enough for the win.} 4... Kc5 {Now the pawn cannot prevented from promoting.} 5. Kb7 {If the Black King moves, 5...Kb4 6.Bxd4 wins but why should the Black King move. The pawn promotes.} 5... a1=Q 6. Be7 {That is checkmate. A brilliant piece of work.}
One of the perennial war cries on this column is the term 'loose pieces.'
Loose pieces are unprotected pieces, and unprotected pieces are nervous pieces
often feeling the cold unblinking eye of a tactically astute player staring at them.
Add to the mix a check in the position and the loose piece is even more fearful.
Red Hot Pawn examples are plentiful for me and painful for you. (Thank You.)
We begin with two examples where players needlessly move a Knight
onto an unprotected square when there is a simple check on the board.
robincoup - ayaz RHP 2015
White here played 21.Ne6 Black played Qc4+ and put the Knight in his pocket.
grazia - michall RHP 2015
Same theme, same result. Here White played...
18.Ne5 Black duly played 18...Qd4+ and captured the Knight.
In this game we see Black not tactically using the fact White had two loose
pieces and then falling victim to a trap based on their own unprotected piece.
redsoxnation44 - dhay
FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1pp1bp/2n3p1/2n1P3/2P5/P1N2N2/3P1PPP/R1BQR1K1 w - - 0 13
[FEN "r1bq1rk1/pp1pp1bp/2n3p1/2n1P3/2P5/P1N2N2/3P1PPP/R1BQR1K1 w - - 0 13"] 13. d4 {White sacrificed a Bishop early on to put Black on the back foot but now Black should be looking at tactical ways to exploit White's rash attack.} 13... Na6 14. d5 {Black can take on e5 due to the loose pieces on c3 and a1. 2...Nxe5 3 Nxe5 d6 Black wins back the piece.} 14... Na5 15. d6 Nc6 16. Bg5 Qe8 17. Ne4 {Again White offers the e-pawn but this time in the form of a trap.} 17... Nxe5 {Playing e6 first was the way to go as it stops Qd5+} 18. Nxe5 Bxe5 {An unprotected piece on e5 - is there a check in the position?} 19. Qd5+ e6 20. Qxe5 {White is now on top. It ended thus.} 20... b6 21. Bh6 Rf7 22. Nf6+ Rxf6 23. Qxf6 Qf7 24. Qd8+ {And Black resigned.}
We end this discussion on loose pieces with a game where Black who was a piece
ahead makes one slack move dropping a piece and then another dropping a Queen.
jose sureda - NE2LDO RHP .2015
FEN
3r2k1/1b5p/p1n1p1p1/1pB2p2/4p2q/2P4P/PP2QPP1/5RK1 w - - 0 24
[FEN "3r2k1/1b5p/p1n1p1p1/1pB2p2/4p2q/2P4P/PP2QPP1/5RK1 w - - 0 24"] 24. Rd1 Rxd1+ 25. Qxd1 {Black is a whole piece up (plus an extra pawn.) and should kill the game with Qd8. If White does not trade Black has the d-file} 25... Ne5 {But this move leaving three pieces undefended let's White right back into the game.} 26. Qd6 {Threatening mate on f8, hitting the e5 Knight and sneaking a wee poke at the loose b7 Bishop.} 26... Qf6 {Stops the mate and saves the Knight but the b7 Bishop...} 27. Qb8+ {...drops off the board with check.} 27... Kg7 28. Qxb7+ Kh6 {The dust has settled. If White now takes on a6 Black starts to create good play with Qg5 so White turns the screw and sets a Queen winning trap.} 29. Be7 {Bd4 looks good but it hides a trick which I'll show you next. (can you see it.)} 29... Qg7 {It's a loose pieces disaster. Black had to play Qf7. Now the only thing protecting the Black Queen is the Black King therefore....} 30. Bg5+ {White wins the Queen. and it was 1-0 a few moves later.} 30... Kxg5 31. Qxg7
I mention a trick. It's back here.
FEN
1Q6/1b4kp/p3pqp1/1pB1np2/4p3/2P4P/PP3PP1/6K1 w - - 0 28
[FEN "1Q6/1b4kp/p3pqp1/1pB1np2/4p3/2P4P/PP3PP1/6K1 w - - 0 28"] 28. Qxb7+ Kh6 {If White now plays the attractive looking...} 29. Bd4 {Black gets out of the mess with...} 29... Nf3+ 30. gxf3 Qg5+ {It's a perpetual.} 31. Kh2 Qf4+ 32. Kg2 Qg5+ 33. Kh1 Qc1+ 34. Kg2 Qg5+ 35. Kf1 Qc1+ 36. Ke2 Qc2+ 37. Ke3 Qc1+ {No running away to f4.} 38. Ke2 Qc2+ 39. Kf1 Qc1+ 40. Kg2 Qg5+ {There is no escape.}
If you have been keeping up with things you will have noticed every game
so far has come from this year. We continue in this vein and also bring back
our hero RookMan. Now witness two Rook moves that set up a Suicide Mate.
We join the game when Black is actually a Rook down. As we have seen
at the start of this Blog. being a Rook down is actually an RHP advantage.
dieselfitter - kapetan RHP 2015
FEN
4r1k1/ppp2p2/1bn4p/3p1bp1/1P3B2/2P2N1P/P2KB1P1/R6R w - - 0 20
[FEN "4r1k1/ppp2p2/1bn4p/3p1bp1/1P3B2/2P2N1P/P2KB1P1/R6R w - - 0 20"] 20. Bh2 Bg6 {That is actually a waiting move. Black is waiting for White to move his Rooks.} 21. Rad1 {That is one Rook
blocking d1.} 21... a6 {Another waiting move.} 22. Rhe1 {The other Rook now blocks e1.} 22... Be3 {That is Checkmate.}
