The Levon Aronian Joke. (and it was on me!)

[FEN "8/8/p7/1b6/1Pp4k/P1K5/6P1/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. a4 Bxa4 2. Kxc4 {And Black has the wrong Bishop for the Rook's pawn. A draw.} 2... Kg3 3. Kc3 Kxg2 4. Kb2 Kf2 {What am I going to do now is blunder a Black win out of this just to show you something.} 5. Ka3 Bb5 6. Kb3 Ke3 7. Kb2 Kd2 8. Ka2 Kd1 9. Ka1 Kc2 10. Ka2 Bc4+ 11. Ka3 {11.Ka1 draws. Black can make no progress but now it's a Black win.} 11... Bb3 {White has only one legal move and....} 12. b5 axb5 {...it's turned the useless a-pawn into a winning b-pawn.} 13. Kb4 Ba4 {It is now a very simple Black win. I stress this is not forced and it did not happen.}

[FEN "8/k7/8/1pK5/p4B2/P7/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Kc6 Ka8 {In the next game we will look at the charming conclusion if Black plays 1...Ka6.} 2. Kb6 {Of course taking the b-pawn is a draw. Now Black has to turn the a-pawn into a b-pawn.} 2... b4 3. axb4 a3 4. b5 a2 5. Be5 {It's a simple win.} 5... a1=Q 6. Bxa1

[FEN "8/k7/8/1pK5/p4B2/P7/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Kc6 Ka6 2. Be3 Ka5 3. Bc5 Ka6 4. Bb6 {Again Black is reduced to turning the blocked a-pawn into a passed b-pawn.} 4... b4 5. axb4 a3 6. b5 {Checkmate} *

[FEN "8/8/p7/1b6/1Pp4k/P1K5/6P1/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. a4 {As I have said up above 1...Bxa4 2.Kxc4 draws. Black cannot forced those zugzwangs we saw previously that turn the Black a-pawn into a b-pawn. However........} 1... Kg3 {Yes! This is the idea that tripped me up. White is not actually threatening anything because if....} 2. axb5 axb5 {That is a straight forward won King and Pawn ending.} 3. Kd2 {White can try and keep the Black King away by opposition but the White King soon gets caught out.} 3... Kxg2 4. Ke2 Kg3 5. Ke3 Kg4 6. Ke4 Kg5 {7.Ke5 c3 the pawn cannot be stopped.} 7. Kd4 Kf4 {Now Black has the opposition. The win is a cake walk.} 8. Kc3 Ke3 9. Kc2 Kd4 10. Kd2 c3+ 11. Kc2 Kc4 12. Kc1 Kxb4 13. Kc2 Kc4 14. Kc1 Kd3 15. Kd1 b4 16. Kc1 c2 17. Kb2 Kd2

[FEN "8/8/8/8/7p/5k2/5Bp1/4K3 w - - 0 1"]

1. Bg1 {Black now wins by 1...Kg3 and pushing the h-pawn. If 1...Kg3 2.Bf2+ Kh2 and g8=Q.} 1... h3 {But this throws the win away. Black has a nice idea but it is wrong.} 2. Bh2 g1=Q+ {The reason Black went this way. It looks like a cute well worked out win.} 3. Bxg1 Kg2 {The Bishop moves and h2 promotes the pawn.} 4. Bh2 {The Bishop moves, but not to where Black thought it could go.} 4... Kxh2 5. Kf2 {White has a draw.} 5... Kh1 6. Kg3 {Or 6.Kf1 both draw.} 6... h2 7. Kf2 {Stalemate. An excellent example of snatching a draw from the jaws of victory.}

[FEN "8/8/P1kpK1b1/8/7p/6p1/6P1/5B2 w - - 0 1"]
1. a7 Kb7 2. Kxd6 Kxa7 3. Ke5 {This is a draw. Black cannot stop the White King from taking the h4 and g3 pawns. Black tries a trick.} 3... Bd3 {White should ignore this and play 4.Kf4 Bxf1 5.Kg4 the Black pawns fall. 5...h3 6.Kxh3.} 4. Bxd3 {One of the Black pawns now promote.} 4... h3 5. gxh3 g2 6. h4 g1=Q {Black went onto win without much trouble.}

[FEN "4B3/7P/8/3p4/4pk2/2b5/4KP2/8 w - - 0 1"]

1. Bc6 {One way of Black drawing this is to head the King for h8 and give up the c3 Bishop for the f2 pawn on the f6 square. This cannot be prevented.} 1... d4 {Black goes for tricks. 2.h8=Q d3+ and Bxh8.} 2. Bxe4 {A counter trick. Black should now play 2...d3+ so the Bishop covers h8 then send the King to h8 and again give up the Bishop on f6. Instead.....} 2... Kxe4 {OOPS!} 3. f3+ Kf4 {And here the game was agreed a draw....a double OOPS!} 4. Kd3 {The h-pawn promotes.}

[FEN "8/1ppk4/1p3B2/3PP3/8/7b/2K5/8 w - - 0 38"]
38. Kc3 {Black now comes up with a peach of an idea in an attempt to win this opposite coloured Bishop ending.} 38... Be6 {How crazy is that?} 39. dxe6+ Kxe6 {We now have three Black pawn v the White King. The Black King must stay in touch with the e-pawn and the Bishop must stay on f6, g7 and h8 to protect it.} 40. Kb4 c6 41. Bg7 b5 42. Kc5 b6+ {The King should drop back to b4 then Black plays Kd5-e6-f7-e6 neither side can make headway and it's a draw.} 43. Kxb6 {This move ensures the draw.} 43... b4 {White has time to play Bh5 and Bb2. The e-pawn will fall and the game is a drawn. Unfortunately...} 44. Kxc6 {...White did not like this idea and now the b-pawn cannot be stopped.} 44... b3 45. Bh6 {Too late now.} 45... b2 46. Kc5 {Once last hope. Now the b-pawn cannot be prevented from promoting will Black nick the e-pawn allowing White to play Bg7+} 46... b1=Q {No. Black won.}

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. f4 {The Levenfish Variation of the Dragon. Black's recommended response is now 6...Nc6.} 6... Bg7 7. e5 dxe5 8. fxe5 Ng4 9. Bb5+ {9...Nd7 or 9...Bd7 lose a piece to 10.Qxg4. 9...Nc6 is playable but with sensible play Black comes out of the opening material down. But do investigate this reply yourself if you intend playing 6.f4} 9... Kf8 10. Ne6+ {White has won a Queen. If Black does not resign then you have loads of fun.} 10... fxe6 {In both games mihai52 resigned here.} 11. Qxd8+ Kf7 12. O-O+ Nf6 13. exf6 {Or if you want to be very boring play 13.Qc7} 13... Rxd8 14. fxe7+ Kxe7 15. Bg5+ Kd6 16. Rad1+ Kc5 17. Rxd8 Bxc3 18. Rxc8+ Kxb5 19. bxc3 {Seen enough?}

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bb4 5. Nd5 {Nigel Povah in his book on the English Four Knights recommends 5...e4! here.} 5... Nxd5 6. cxd5 {The move now is 6....Nd4 and not the following as played in the games mentioned above.} 6... e4 {These 'tit for tat' captures have to be looked at careful especially if you are the 'tat' player playing a tempo down.} 7. dxc6 exf3 8. Qb3 {A piece is lost. If the Bishop moves then 9.cxb7. Ree resigned here, the Crazy Russian continued with...} 8... fxe2 9. Bxe2 Qe7 10. a3 Bxd2+ 11. Bxd2 dxc6 12. Qe3 {Black took the Queens off going into a middle game a whole piece down and soon resigned. If....} 12... Be6 {To keep the Queens on Black gets in a right mess.} 13. Bb4 Qd7 14. Rd1 Qc8 15. Qg5 {I think we have seen enough of that.}