Rook Endings (the Blog)

The thread title gives you an idea of what the next blog is all about.
Anybody want to have a stab at what happened next.

There is a huge amount of quality instruction in this one!

Basically, this is a lesson in tactics, and rook endings just happen to be the stage upon which the play is conducted. Bravo!

Originally posted by greenpawn34
The thread title gives you an idea of what the next blog is all about.
Anybody want to have a stab at what happened next.

[b]tkenway - dave1234aust RHP 2012

[fen]5k2/7r/5P1R/6K1/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 86[/fen]
Black to move.

Clue: They say blunders come in two's.
But they mean the same player blunders twice.
I'm looking for a Black double ?? followed by a White ???

Blog 4

[/b]

I stand in awe of your research ability, my friend. Not bad for someone who (supposedly) still uses Windows 3.1. 🙂

Hi SG.

This is a long post - go and get a cup of coffee.

Windows 3.1 had to go. It's been about three years now.
You should have seen it running on a 2005 computer - whoosh-whoosh-whoosh.
It was good, it sucked in and ran a lot of stuff win '95 failed to do.

I still use the versions of WORD and EXCEL that came with 3.1.
When Danny Kopec sent me proofs of the latest version of Mastering Chess
(plug...plug)
I could not open his WORD files because Danny of course used the latest WORD.
I had to copy them to a USB thingy - take them to a net cafe and saved
them as an older Version of WORD or print them out.

I've only been on the net since I first joined here in 2008 when I bought
this 2nd hand lab top. (I'm using it now - it creak and groans and is slow but I like it).
The Corners were all done on 3.1 which I burnt to a CD and took down
to an internet cafe to post.

CB8 and it's material search is a godsend and so easy to use.
I looked for pure Rook and pawn endings on my RHP DB (now 2½ million games)
It found 154,830. (BTW on RHP Black wins more Rook endings than White.)

I then made up a rook endings DB and searched in there looking for Rook
endings with a Rook's pawns not ending in a draw.
(hence the load of Rook pawn endings in that blog).

I also did a search for the Saavdra pattern in all four quarters of the board.

I pulled out games at random looking for other basic blunders with other pawns.
The ratio is about one in every four! contains an error.
(The one above was pulled out at random.)

It could be even less than that because I can only spot the basic the tactical shots.
(hence the low level blunders on the blog.)

I was as good as spotting the sly sneaky and correct Rook moves
as I am quickly spotting tactical shots I'm sure I'd find a lot more.
I'd also be a much better player than I am now.

I'll stick to those for now - taking it up a notch will need a lot more explaining.
I'm up for that as I will learning as well but I just know some red-faced blunders will sneak in.

My golden rule in noting up a game is if you don't know what is going on
then say nothing. (but never admit that.) 🙂
I will end with a blog of PGN's and no notes.

I will test the 1 in 4 theory. I need a number...any number.

SG. Your first post was in thread 144304. I won't cheat I will look at
game number 144304 from my Rook Database.
Let us see if there is an error in that game, if not I'll look at 4 from either
side and stop if I find anything. I know I will.

Your first post BTW is good.







-----------------looking at DB -------------------

No.144304 is nothing I can see Game 8474038
Next 144305 is a the same. Game 8474827
(maybe something deeper, if so I've missed it.)

But 144306 is a wee beauty. Game 8475114 so it fits in with my one in four theory.

(you will notice all three games finish on move 72 that is because I sort
my DB's by number of moves, the lowest first - a hang up from my looking
for opening traps days which I doubt I'll never outgrow.)

I could have used that last game at the very least twice in a blog.

There is one big piece winning move missed in the middle game.
And a lovely blunder in the Rook endgame which I spotted right away.
(so will you.) That would not looked out of place in that recent blog.

RAZORS EDGE - BHP RHP 2011

White wins a a couple of pawns in the opening then mucks about and drops a piece.

White gets pawns for the piece and Black allows his King to get chased
about in the middle of the board.
White misses winning a whole Rook but his position and pawns are so good
Black has to give up a piece to stop them.

White is a Whole Rook up but then trades down (by giving up a Rook)
to a pure Rook ending.
White then totally misplays it and losses.
(this actually sounds like one of my games.) 🙂

I won't give you clues but you should spot the two big moves White missed.
There may indeed be others, but the big calamity is in the Rook ending.

Hey, I'm still reading through it. Comments here on the forum seem promising.

A quick remark however: The commentary about the first position is written below the second board. Maybe you can fix this for future readers?

Edit: in the Nicksten - MNicolai game, the white rook should be on the 8th rank.
Edit2: in the akh1983 - gazo2011 game, the fen is not displayed.

For the rest, this was actually a very insightful blog post. Now I understand why rook and pawn endings are considered the most difficult. How could one ever master them?

Sorted cheers.

Hi Paul,
Had to get the tactics out of the way. That laid the ground work.
Next blog more technical but also more super-duper blunders.

I'm going to print this, bind it, and put it on the shelf. Great stuff. I can spend a month showing it to my kids.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Hi SG.

This is a long post - go and get a cup of coffee.

Windows 3.1 had to go. It's been about three years now.
You should have seen it running on a 2005 computer - whoosh-whoosh-whoosh.
It was good, it sucked in and ran a lot of stuff win '95 failed to do.

I still use the versions of WORD and EXCEL that came with 3.1.
When Danny Kopec sent ...[text shortened]... d3 66. g6 Kd2 67. g7 Rb8 68. Rf1 c1=Q 69. Rf8 Qh1+ 70. Kg5 Rb5+ 71. Kf6 Qh6+ 72. Kf7 Rb7+ [/pgn]

So how did you create the database of RHP games?

Originally posted by SwissGambit
So how did you create the database of RHP games?

I woke up one day and wrote a seek worm program called 'Whizz-Bang'.

I released it onto the net.
It's task was to look at any chess game it found, analyse it and if it
found a ??? move then to send that game to my 'Whizz Bang' file.

For weeks nothing appeared and I thought it was not working.
The one day it hit the RHP site, it downloaded every game and comiited suicide.

Hi Greenpawn. I'm looking at end-games at the moment so this was quite helpful for me. Spassky is meant once to have said words to the effect of "Endgame study is like giving up smoking - smart move, but not much fun." So an endgame book with a sense of humour is welcome, but on Amazon it's advertised at the price of a small car - is there a cheaper way of getting hold of it.

Here's an endgame problem based on a position I got in an OTB game on Tuesday and missed the mate in 6 which was revealed later in Crafty, because there were a few more pawns in the game I won anyway but in the spirit of studies I've removed all superfluous pieces:
#6

Originally posted by DeepThought
Hi Greenpawn. I'm looking at end-games at the moment so this was quite helpful for me. Spassky is meant once to have said words to the effect of "Endgame study is like giving up smoking - smart move, but not much fun." So an endgame book with a sense of humour is welcome, but on Amazon it's advertised at the price of a small car - is there a cheaper wa ...[text shortened]... spirit of studies I've removed all superfluous pieces:
[fen]7k/7p/8/8/3p1Q2/8/q2B1K2/8[/fen]#6

Qf8-f6-d8xd4-d8 then Bc3

Hi Deep Thought.

Tell me about it. The price is shocking.

I got my copy in a threat/swap deal.

I threatened unless he swap me his copy for a couple of books I'd
publish nothing but his losses in Scottish Chess.
(the latest Scottish Chess has the full story....including one of his losses.)

Good game/study.
Any chance of seeing the full game to see the build up.

SG's PGN thingy has gone down.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Hi Deep Thought.

Tell me about it. The price is shocking.

I got my copy in a threat/swap deal.

I threatened unless he swap me his copy for a couple of books I'd
publish nothing but his losses in Scottish Chess.
(the latest Scottish Chess has the full story....including one of his losses.)

Good game/study.
Any chance of seeing the full gam ...[text shortened]... /q2B1K2/8 w - - 0 1"]
1. Qf8+ Qg8 2. Qf6+ Qg7 3. Qd8+ Qg8 4. Qxd4+ Qg7 5. Qd8+ Qg8 6. Bc3[/pgn]

It's far from perfect, but it's a good win for me as my opponent is rated 157 ECF (about 1,900 FIDE) compared with my 119 (about 1,600). The blunder was under time pressure (75 + 20 after 30 moves). I've added a few comments and the variations are due to Crafty.

Cheers Deep Thought.

I've always liked to see how the combo was created.

I copied the game and ran it through my pgn viewer.
It's quicker than RHP on my system and I can flick the bits about.
I deleted the notes because I always do. (I read them later).

My first thought was 24...Nxf4(?) when the postion cropped up.
It looked like a shot. It was played but it was going nowhere.
I did not go back to see if it could be improved but have since read your
note so I stopped for a look at the right bit, but was looking at the wrong move!

The missed combo is good.
(You could have done an Alekhine and say it happened. 🙂 )

I ran a quick search to see if I could find the same pattern on RHP.
Not a full 100% search just the bones.Bishop on c3 or c6. King and Queen
on g8/h8 or g1/h1 and a mate.

Amongst others I found this. It's not at all like the your pattern but it's good

ol53 - Angarato Elensar RHP 2006