??? How ???

Originally posted by enrico20
Why didn't you demonstrate the "obvious draw" in the chat at FICS and then log off to check if necessary? You didn't demonstrate the "obvious draw" immediately.

My opponent didn't respond to my tells for one thing.

Can we just drop it please?

Tally so far:

You've called me arrogant and said I gloated.
I've said nothing about you.

Let's just call it even, and you can go to your next argument. 🙂

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
My opponent didn't respond to my tells for one thing.

Can we just drop it please?

Tally so far:

You've called me arrogant and said I gloated.
I've said nothing about you.

Let's just call it even, and you can go to your next argument. 🙂

For the record you said

White is currently rated 1822 but was rated a whopping 2268 last year! That is a remarkably high rating for FICS.
......
Shredder has black up over 3 points at first but eventually comes around to the draw.

No matter where white captures the c pawn, black doesn't have time to round up the h pawn before white gets to the corner.

It is amazing to me that someone rated so high couldn't know this or at least be willing to play it out.

I like the way you say your opponent has lost 446 points and then call him "highly rated". Everything points to gloating.

gloating 😀

gloating present participle of gloat
Verb: Contemplate or dwell on one's own success or another's misfortune with malignant pleasure: "his enemies gloated over his death".

Originally posted by enrico20
gloating 😀

gloating present participle of gloat
Verb: Contemplate or dwell on one's own success or another's misfortune with malignant pleasure: "his enemies gloated over his death".

It was NOT gloating. I didn't even deserve to win it.

Imagine a FM that couldn't even mate with king and rook.
That's almost the category this falls into.

Believe it or not, sometimes players' online ratings are extremely high compared to their actual chess KNOWLEDGE. It's a recent phenomenon.

You can't let this or anything else go. You MUST have an argument or dispute. I won't feed the troll again. Type what you want. You won't get another response from me.

Originally posted by queenabber
take it everyone realises 4 Kd4 loses in the above quote;
to draw white needs to play, Kd3 and Ke2 so as to safely reach Kf1

vipiu and wormwood never 😛

Sorry paulbuchmanfromfics I wasn't here to feed your ego and encourage your gloating. A 2268 rating at blitz does not make one an FM.

The "fact" (you are the one presenting the "facts" so we have to take your word for it) that your opponent fell from 2268 to 1822 should say something to most normal people.

You could have presented the position as an endgame exercise without much of the colorful language you have used, but felt the need to gloat and make an arrogant claim. I called you out and will do so again if the opportunity presents itself.

*Rests bazooka on table.

Originally posted by enrico20
*Rests bazooka on table.

Pffftttt. It's not even a peashooter.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Pffftttt. It's not even a peashooter.

TWSS

Before this I didn't know it is a drawish position too. Now I know. I think this is one of the good objectives that the author wants to tell us.

Thank you.

For the record, this position is an example of Baehr's rule.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_B%C3%A4hr
(This is in German, I did not find an English entry.)

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
I just completed a blitz game (LOL) at FICS.

This position was reached:

[fen]8/8/8/3k3p/2p4P/2K5/8/8 w - - 2 43[/fen]

It's white's move.
Before continuing down the page, form an idea of how this endgame should play out.

I was black.

White is currently rated 1822 but was rated a whopping 2268 last year!
That is a remarkably hi ...[text shortened]... sides had a whole minute left when it was over.

Am I missing something? Your thoughts?

Well, anyone with solid endgame knowledge should be able to tell within 30 seconds or less that it's a draw. The board contains two components: the K+P v. K endgame on the left, where it's obvious that White to move can obtain and maintain the opposition; and the pair of static pawns on the right.

Given that the game is a draw without the static pawns, the only question is whether Black can get to the pawn pair, eat White's pawn, and lead his pawn to the queening square, before White can eat the abandoned passed pawn and prevent Black from queening.

This can be answered fairly easily, by assuming that Black immediately abandons the passed pawn; by the time Black eats the White pawn, White's king is well within the promotion square: the promotion square runs from h5 to h1, and from h5 to d5 (the latter being where the Black king sits in the initial diagram).

http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/zzkingandpawn.htm

For the record, I don't see why it's "arrogant" to expect a player who had been rated at Master level, (well above Expert even if he didn't technically qualify as Master) to see this. Nor do I see why Paul Buchman should be required to demonstrate basic endgame theory to his opponent in order to be allowed to express astonishment.

Incidentally, I don't claim to possess solid endgame knowledge, but this particular case is sufficiently elementary even for me to grasp without too much effort.

P.S. Even if one wasn't sure, a little calculation by hand, easy as counting sheep, is enough to ascertain that the game is a draw.

Furthermore, as Paul Buchman has pointed out, one would only expect an opponent to resign in such circumstances if he were positively convinced that it was a win for his opponent, not if he was merely unsure, since playing on could lead to nothing worse than the same loss which resigning ensures. So it isn't even a case of his opponent being unsure of the draw, but of concluding erroneously that it was a loss for himself, under circumstances which don't strongly suggest this.

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
<snip> Shredder has black up over 3 points at first but eventually comes around to the draw.

This should give pause to those who regard chess engines as flawless analysts and guides to correct play. I would be curious to know how long it took to evaluate the position correctly.

Originally posted by Schach Attack
P.S. Even if one wasn't sure, a little calculation by hand, easy as counting sheep, is enough to ascertain that the game is a draw.

Furthermore, as Paul Buchman has pointed out, one would only expect an opponent to resign in such circumstances if he were positively convinced that it was a win for his opponent, not if he was merely unsure, since pl ...[text shortened]... eously that it was a loss for himself, under circumstances which don't strongly suggest this.

rec'd. Very well stated!