I have been picking old games here almost at random and going through them. Here is one with a rook & pawns endgame. Game 440629 Black's move 52.. Re8 could just as easily have been answered by 53 Rxe8 as with white's actual 53 d7, which leads to white queening a pawn and black having to exchange his rook for the new queen. Could black have hung on for quite a while by playing 52... Rd7? Maybe he would have been able to queen one of his three passed king-side pawns by advancing his king to help them.
Originally posted by Paul DiracI think Black wins easy if he plays 48...,Rc3
I have been picking old games here almost at random and going through them. Here is one with a rook & pawns endgame. Game 440629 Black's move 52.. Re8 could just as easily have been answered by 53 Rxe8 as with white's actual 53 d7, which leads to white queening a pawn and black having to exchange his rook for the new queen. Could black have hung o ...[text shortened]... e been able to queen one of his three passed king-side pawns by advancing his king to help them.
Earlier in this thread I made reference to a game in progress. I can understand why my post was deleted. But now that particular game is finished. Game 515015
After move 44, each player was down to five pawns. White had a passed rook pawn, then later a passed bishop pawn instead after each king swallowed a pawn, but wound up resigning in zugzwang. Is there anything he could have done differently to win, or at least to draw?
Originally posted by Paul DiracThat looks like a draw to me,47.Kc3 is a waste of time.If I have time later today or maybe next week,I'll play the position against fritz7,see what happens.
Earlier in this thread I made reference to a game in progress. I can understand why my post was deleted. But now that particular game is finished. Game 515015
After move 44, each player was down to five pawns. White had a passed rook pawn, then later a passed bishop pawn instead after each king swallowed a pawn, but wound up resigning in zugzwang. Is there anything he could have done differently to win, or at least to draw?
Originally posted by Paul DiracAfter looking at this for a few minutes, I couldn't see a win for White, but I'm almost certain he could've drawn. He just has to use his outside passed pawn more effectively. After 46.....d5, White should play 46.cxd5 cxd5 47.h4. it may continue like this: 47.....Kf4. 48.Kd3 d4 49.a3 Kg4 50.Ke4 Kxh4 51.Kxf3 Kg5 52.Ke4 Kf6 53.Kd3 Ke5 54.b4 axb4 55.axd4 cxb4 56.Kc4 and the draw from here is easy to see. Black has to deal with White's f pawn, which gives White time to round up both Black pawns.
Earlier in this thread I made reference to a game in progress. I can understand why my post was deleted. But now that particular game is finished. Game 515015
After move 44, each player was down to five pawns. White had a passed ...[text shortened]... ything he could have done differently to win, or at least to draw?
When I looked at this position after move 44, the very first thing that caught my eye was White's outside passed pawn. I said to myself, "no way should White lose this game." As soon as Black pushed d5, White was pretty much forced to exchange. Not doing so allowed Black to establish a protected passed pawn with a pawn base that was unattackable. But notice that after the exchange, Black's pawns are pretty much immobilized and need the Black king to help them get moving. But the Black king is preoccupied with White's outside passed pawn. This is what should have allowed White to draw the game.
Edit: the line I suggested still seems to lead to a win for Balck upon closer inspection. But I believe I have spotted a drawing line, and I'll post it later when I have time, if someone else doesn't post it first.
Thanks for the analysis, guys, and the promise of additional analysis later.
Meanwhile, I was looking at Game 274070. It becomes rook & pawns at move 27. Black is up by a pawn, but did not anticipate white's rook check at move 34, which forms a barrier that keeps black's king from defending his two advanced pawns, and black is unable to stave off defeat.
I played it against fritz7,15 minutes each.I don't have endgame tables for it so it may not be the best play from his side,nor from my side for that matter 😉
White has to be very carefull,I managed to lose twice before I found the right path.Though that might only indicate how bad I am at endgames....
1.Kf1-e1 c7-c6 27 2.Ke1-d2 Ke4-d4 3.h2-h4 Kd4-e4 4.h4-h5 Ke4-f5
5.Kd2-e3 Kf5-g5 6.Ke3xf3 Kg5xh5 7.Kf3-f4 Kh5-g6 8.Kf4-g4 d6-d5
9.f2-f3 Kg6-f6 10.Kg4-f4 d5-d4 11.a2-a3 Kf6-g6 12.Kf4-e4 Kg6-g5
13.f3-f4+ Kg5-g6 14.Ke4-f3 Kg6-f5 15.a3-a4 Kf5-f6 16.Kf3-f2 Kf6-e6
17.Kf2-e2 Ke6-f5 18.Ke2-f3 Kf5-g6 19.Kf3-f2 ½-½
Sir Lot.
Thank you. I'll call that one 'The Dance of the Kings.' It is interesting, given how valuable tempos (tempi?) are usually claimed to be, that two out of three of white's rear pawns only moved forward one square as their first moves, instead of two. But then, white is playing for a draw I suppose.
Oh, and who or what is fritz7? And what is an endgame table?