This picture of a coral Knight carved out by the sea....
....Was sent in by mikelom.
The woman in the picture is apparently Lotti McCrinkle the well known deep sea diver
Who holds the world record for holding her breath underwater. 10 minutes and 15 seconds.
Anyway, whilst pearl diving off the coast of Finland she saw this piece
of coral shaped like a knight and lugged it to the surface.
Mikelom, out hunting whales, saw Lotti and the Knight shaped piece of coral
and harpooned both of them onboard his ship.
Mike married Lotti and together they put the piece of coral up in their garden.
(Is any of this true?.................Russ)
I've no idea.
I'm simply minding my own business when someone sends me a picture
of a chunk of rock with holes in it saying it looks like a Knight.
(And the girl?......Russ.)
That is definetly Lotti McCrinkle.
The Championship stats so far.
Games played 6902. White wins 3446 Drawn 225 Black wins 3231
We start with three Championship games on the theme of Legal’s Mate.
1. c4 e5 2. e4 Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. a3 O-O 7. exf5 d6 8. Bg5 Bxf5 9. Nh4 {Black spots a Legal's Mate pattern so goes for it. He should now play 9...Bxf2+ 10.Kxf2 Ng4+ and 11...Qxg5 when Black is winning easily.} 9... Ne4 {White should ignore the Queen offer and play 10.Nxe4 answering 10...Bxf7+ with 12.Kd2 when Black is a piece down.} 10. Bxd8 Bxf2+ 11. Ke2 Nd4# {White has been checkmated.}
gnjert - polarbear RHP Ch 2012
Twice White misses a chance for Legal’s Mate. He does however find
another way to sacrifice his Queen.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 d6 4. Bc4 Nh6 5. d3 Bg4 6. Bxh6 gxh6 7. O-O Nd4 {This could have been used as an example of the dangers of moving a piece twice in the opening. White should now play 8. Nxe5 Bxd1 9.Bxf7+ Ke7 10.Nd5 Checkmate. A better move was 7...Rg8 aiming at the castled King. While the Knight is on c6 Legal's Mate is not on.} 8. h3 Bh5 {9.Nxe5 is still on 9...Bxd1 10 Bxf7+ and Nd5 mate. Again White missed it, though here after .9.Nxe5 Black can slip in 9...Qh5 when the game is up in the air.} 9. Qd2 {Instead he sets himself up for a Knight fork.} 9... Bxf3 {Now 10 gxf3 Nxf3+ winning the Queen.} 10. g4 Bxg4 11. hxg4 Nf3+ {And Black went onto to win quite comfortably.}
Well you heard the duck. apparently 2…Bd6 is crap.
I have two very entertaining games showing Black winning after 2…Bd6
but in both cases White could have obtained a very good game.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bd6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 {Plausible but not good. As always development is the key. 4.0-0 or 4.Nc3 or even 4.d3 are all good. Black should castle.} 4... Qe7 {Now Black is in trouble.} 5. Bxf7+ Kd8 6. Bb3 Nc6 7. Nf7+ Ke8 8. Nxh8 Nxe4 9. Qh5+ Kf8 {And now White should play 10.Ng6+ forking the King and Queen. 10...hxg6 11.Qh8 mate.} 10. Nf7 Bc5 11. Qxh7 Ke8 {White was threatening Qh8 mate. Now 12.Qxe5 and White has won a piece with an easy game.} 12. Qxg7 Bxf2+ 13. Kf1 Nd4 14. Nxe5 {OOPS!} 14... Qxg7 15. d3 Qxe5 16. dxe4 Bh4 {This has turned into a White disaster and it should be all over very soon.} 17. g3 Qf6+ 18. Bf4 Bxg3 {There was need for that. The game is back in the soup.} 19. hxg3 b6 20. Nd2 c6 21. e5 Qf5 {White has a brilliant shot here. 22.Ne4 threatening 23.Nd6+ winning the Queen and if 23...Qxe4 24.Rh8+ Ke7 25.Bg5 is checkmate.} 22. Nc4 {Not as good as 22.Ne4 but it's OK. Black spots the Knight fork on and...} 22... Qe4 {...still allows the Knight fork on d6.} 23. Re1 {A howler. Not only does White miss the Queen winning Knight fork he hangs a Rook with check.} 23... Qxh1+ 24. Kf2 Qf3+ 25. Kg1 Ne2+ 26. Kh2 Qf2+ 27. Kh3 Qxe1 {27....d5+ first was cleaner. Incredibly there is still one chance for White to save this game .} 28. Nd6+ {Now if 28...Ke7 then29.Bg5+ Kf8 and Bh6+ Ke7 is a perpetual. The same perpetual is on with 28...Kf8.} 28... Kd8 {Now no more tricks. The mate is only a few moves we might as well stay on this helter-skelter ride to see what happened.} 29. Bg5+ Kc7 30. Nf5 Ba6 31. e6 dxe6 32. Bxe6 Re8 33. Bf7 Re5 34. g4 Qh1
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bd6 {The is crap...The Duck.} 3. d4 Nc6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bb4 {This is the real drawback of 2...Bd6. That Bishop will have to move again to get the Queen Bishop out. A Fianchetto (b6 and Bb7 ) is often too slow in e4-e5 open games.} 6. a3 Ba5 7. b4 Bb6 8. Ng5 {The simple 8.dxe5 gave White a very good game. Now the tempi lost by the Bishop is returned.} 8... O-O 9. dxe5 Nxe5 {And suddenly Black is looking better.} 10. Bd3 d6 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 {Now 12...Nxd3+ and 13...Re8+ looks very good.} 12... Qf6 {But this OK. it makes things very interesting and Black is still looking good. The attack on f2 can be handled but Black is looking at that loose a1 Rook on the open long diagonal.} 13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. O-O {Now 14...Ng4 with a triple hit on f2 and peek at the a1 Rook.} 14... Nf3+ {This was meant (I think) to be followed up with Qxa1.} 15. Nxf3 Kxh7 {But Black changed his mind.} 16. Ng5+ Kg8 {White now spots if he plays 17.Qh5 then 17...Qg6 or Qh6 stop the mate on h7. So he has an idea. "I'll deflect the Queen away from f6."} 17. Bf4 Qxf4 18. Qh5 {Now what?} 18... Bf5 {And White is piece down.} 19. g3 Qd2 20. c4 Bg6 21. Qh4 {Black should close this game with Rook(either) to e8 and e2 with a wood chopping threat on f2. Instead....} 21... f6 22. Ne6 {No serious harm done but that Knight is now annoying.} 22... Rfe8 23. a4 a6 24. a5 Ba7 25. Qg4 Kf7 26. Nf4 Bh7 27. h4 Qxb4 {If Black had lost this, and he should have, then it would be another example of a Queen nicking pawns. Queen Knight pawns.} 28. Ne6 {Black should play 28...Rxe6 29.dxe6 Kg8 and he is OK.} 28... Bg6 29. h5 {OOPS! if the Bishop moves then Qxg7 is mate. This game has spun because Black took that stupid QNP.} 29... Ke7 30. Nxc7 {Too clever. Just take the Bishop with the Queen.} 30... Qd2 31. Qe6+ Kf8 32. Qxd6+ Kg8 33. hxg6 Rad8 {Now 34.Qa3 or 34.Qf4 or my choice 34.Nxe8 Rxd6 35.Nxd6 two Rooks and monster pawn on d5. Instead White has an idea. Ideas are dangerous.} 34. Rae1 {White pats himself on the back and emails all his buddies. "Hey I've just sacced my Queen for a mate." He's right. 34...Rxd6 35.Rxe8 mate. But....} 34... Bxf2+ {Bonk!} 35. Kh1 Bxe1 {It's over.} 36. Qb6 Bxg3 37. Qg1 {Black now gives a wee lesson in shutting up shop. First he wins the Queen.} 37... Re5 38. Qxg3 Rh5+ 39. Kg1 Rg5 40. Qxg5 Qxg5+ 41. Kh1 {Now gets the g-pawn to cut out any back rank mates.} 41... Qh6+ 42. Kg2 Qxg6+ 43. Kh1 Qe4+ 44. Kg1 Qxc4 {And Black mated White thus.} 45. Ne6 Re8 46. Nf4 Re4 47. d6 Rxf4 48. Rd1 Qc5+ 49. Kh1 Qh5+ 50. Kg2 Qg5+ 51. Kh3 Rh4
Hello again and thanks greenpawn for letting me back onto this glorious
and famous blog I have long been a…..
(get on with it you twerp……………..greenpawn)
Loads of beginners primers tell us that Bishops are better than Knights
and often offer us this position.
The Knight is trapped .
Well look at this example and watch the Knight turn the tables
on the Bishop on an open board.
[FEN "2k5/3N4/8/8/8/7B/8/3b1K2 w - - 0 1"] 1. Ke1 {The Black Bishop on an pawnless open board is in trouble. He cannot play 1...Bf3, 2...Bh5, 2...Bc2, B...Bb3 or 2...Ba4 all fail to a Knight discovered check and Knight takes Bishop. He has just one square.} 1... Bc2 2. Kd2 {Now 2...Bb3, 2...Ba4, 2...Be4, 2...Bg6, 2...Bh7 all get caught with a discovered Knight check..} 2... Bb1 3. Kc1 {Again Bd3, Be4, Bg6 and Bh7 are doomed squares.} 3... Ba2 4. Kb2 {It does not matter which square the Bishop chooses to flee to. 4...Bc4, 4...Bd5 4...Bf7 or 4...Bg8 all are end with a discovered check and Knight takes Bishop. 1-0}
In this next example….
(that’s it…………….greenpawn.)
But the duck got two games and I have this super-duper ending….
Trust me on this boys. No matter how bad your position is average players
will very often slip in a slack move.
You must be alert to snatch opportunities as they drift past. They will appear.
Trust me on this boys. No matter how good your position is you will very
often slip in a slack move.
In lost positions your opponent will snatch opportunities when they appear.
(here is the exception…there is always an exception.)
Look at this position.
It’s from Heatonite - rabnes RHP Ch 2012. White to play.
White is the exchange up and is crawling all over Black.
Black is busted.
White played 1.Nxf7??
So lets us look at what never happened.
FEN
r4k2/p1R2pp1/1pR1bq1p/3pNn1Q/3P1P2/6P1/PP5P/6K1 w - - 0 1
[FEN "r4k2/p1R2pp1/1pR1bq1p/3pNn1Q/3P1P2/6P1/PP5P/6K1 w - - 0 1"]
1. Nxf7 {Both 1.Nd7 or 1.Rxf7 win the Black Queen. Black now played 1...Ne7 instead he has....} 1... Qxd4+ 2. Kh1 {All moves lose for White this is just one line. Black jiggles his Queen and the White King into a mating net.} 2... Qe4+ 3. Kg1 Qe1+ 4. Kg2 Qd2+ 5. Kg1 Ne3 {White has no valid defence against Qg2 mate.}
Same game. This time there is no exception. Black took his chance.
FEN
2n2rk1/3Q2p1/1p5p/3pNq2/P2P1P2/6P1/1P5P/2R3K1 b - - 0 1
[FEN "2n2rk1/3Q2p1/1p5p/3pNq2/P2P1P2/6P1/1P5P/2R3K1 b - - 0 1"]
1... Qe4 {Black sets up save ass trap. White, instead of admiring his extra pawns, should now wonder why Black has given up a piece.} 2. Rxc8 Qe1+ 3. Kg2 Qe2+ 4. Kh3 Qh5+ 5. Kg2 Qe2+ 6. Kg1 Qe1+ 7. Kg2 Qe2+ 8. Kg1 Qe1+ 9. Kg2 Qe2+ {The game was drawn by perpetual check.}
We end with two games where wins were scorned and both players lost.
kiadvent - Talem16 RHP Ch 2012
White to play.
Good players will see the Queen sacrifice and the 4 move mate right away.
It is one of the most famous mating patterns in chess.
But if you have never seen it before then you will miss it.
How many of us had to be shown when first confronted with this position.
Here is it more instructive because both a Rook and Knight cover g8.
FEN
r2qr1k1/3nbppp/3p1n2/p3p1N1/1p2P3/PQpP3P/4NPP1/R1B2RK1 w - - 0 1
[FEN "r2qr1k1/3nbppp/3p1n2/p3p1N1/1p2P3/PQpP3P/4NPP1/R1B2RK1 w - - 0 1"]
{In the actual game White played 1.Ng3. Black spotted the missed shot and played 1...Rf8 and Black went onto win. This is what should have happened.....} 1. Nxf7 {This wins the Black Queen. If the Queen moves.....} 1... Qc7 2. Nh6+ {2...Kf8 3.Qf7 mate. So....} 2... Kh8 3. Qg8+ {It does not matter how Black recaptures 3...Rxg8 or 3...Nxg8 the result is the same.} 3... Nxg8 4. Nf7 {Checkmate. As I said White went onto to lose this.}
peonperdido - lfa RHP Ch 2012
lfa has a what I would call a simply mate but misses it.
FEN
8/5kp1/rB2pp1p/P2p2P1/3P1P1P/2R1P3/3Qb2K/5q2 b - - 0 1
[FEN "8/5kp1/rB2pp1p/P2p2P1/3P1P1P/2R1P3/3Qb2K/5q2 b - - 0 1"]
1... Qf2+ {1...Kh1 2.Bf3 mate.} 2. Kh3 Bf1+ {This also wins the White Queen but we can ignore that one. Always go for the King.} 3. Kg4 f5+ 4. Kh5 Qf3 {Black missed 1…Qf2+ instead he played 1…Bf3 and went onto to lose.}
But he was not fighting off sharks and crocodiles at the same time.
Hi Heatonite
I did 400 Chandler Cornered. That was enough.
I sometimes miss it. I would have had a field day with
the tee-shirt affair at the last British Championship.
Don't go much into Bells these days, all my mates have
been banned from there for fighting. (usually with non-chess
players) Also price of pint is up to over £3.00 and I've never
been a one pint man so a night in Bells can cost up to £30.
I made the Corner! I made it and I did it with a Blunderbuss! Thanks GP. I'm a very happy man 🙂
I've just got back from Edinburgh this afternoon having had a pint in Sandy Bell's. Turns out we were thinking of each other.
Honestly not stalking you but I only came to rhp originally for more Corner, having spent ages thinking that your closing blog was a sick joke.
I visited the Lewis gaming pieces and having asked directions to the bishop they keep in the gallery upstairs, lectured the curator at length on how they weren't chess pieces.
With respect to Radnes, I should say that I WAS the exchange up, a GAME up, higher rated, but in extreme time trouble. Yes, he deserved to win but I think I would have gone for the perpetual too. Shame he didn't see it as I'm now going to have phaph about getting your continuation into my database.
But he was not fighting off sharks and crocodiles at the same time.
Hi Heatonite
I did 400 Chandler Cornered. That was enough.
I sometimes miss it. I would have had a field day with
the tee-shirt affair at the last British Championship.
Don't go much into Bells these days, all my mates have
been banned from there for fighting. (usually with non-chess
players) Also price of pint is up to over £3.00 and I've never
been a one pint man so a night in Bells can cost up to £30.
Sporting of you to congratulate Radnes.
I've just got back from Edinburgh this afternoon having had a pint in Sandy Bell's. Turns out we were thinking of each other.
Honestly not stalking you but I only came to rhp originally for more Corner, having spent ages thinking that your closing blog was a sick joke.
I visited the Lewis gaming pieces and having asked directions to the bishop they keep in the gallery upstairs, lectured the curator at length on how they weren't chess pieces.
With respect to Radnes, I should say that I WAS the exchange up, a GAME up, higher rated, but in extreme time trouble. Yes, he deserved to win but I think I would have gone for the perpetual too. Shame he didn't see it as I'm now going to have phaph about getting your continuation into my database.
Well played, Radnes.
There is also an opening called the "Double Duck" lol - 1.f4 f5 2. d4 d5