LinearUnlock Your Genius 10 June 2008 (Problems)
by tapestry 
, Hampshire, Sunday, June 29, 2008, 19:11 (6135 days ago)
My initial reaction is that I prefer black's chances.
White's rook is actively placed but it appears that black should be able to unravel his position. The pawn on b4 could potentially hinder the scope of the black bishop, but the fact there are pawns on both sides of the board should favour the side with the bishop. White's pawns are isolated. The kingside pawns could become quite vulnerable should the white king stray too far away from them. The pawn on b3 looks difficult to defend.
Black has targets in the b3 and f2 pawns. The bishop should be better in this position.
As white, I would be trying to keep my pieces active and avoid them being tied down in defence. I would like to swap knight for bishop.
As white, I like the look of 1. Ne4.
If 1...f5 2. Ng5 (threatening 3. Ne6) 2...Ra6 3. Re8 (thinking 4. Ne6) but I think that black's king can start mobilising with 3...Kg7 followed by moving the bishop.
If 1...Kg7 2. Rd7 (aiming to play 3. Nd6 to attack the f7 pawn) 2...Rb2 3. Ng5 Rxb3 4. Rxf7 Kg8 5. Rf6 and I would hope that white would be able to give the knight up for the b pawn after capturing the g pawn.
If 1...Rb2 2. Nd2 Kg7 3. Kf3 (aiming to defend the knight). I still prefer black here though.
I've only looked at one first move for white. What does everybody else think?
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by tapestry , Hampshire, Friday, July 25, 2008, 13:39 (6109 days ago) @ tapestry
Please somebody respond.
We have a great opportunity to discuss a position under the watchful eye of a grandmaster.
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by Tony Kosten 
, France, Monday, July 28, 2008, 12:33 (6106 days ago) @ tapestry
? Please somebody respond.
? We have a great opportunity to discuss a position under the watchful eye
? of a grandmaster.
Everyone is probably on holiday! 
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by tapestry , Hampshire, Monday, July 28, 2008, 13:16 (6106 days ago) @ Tony Kosten
Everybody?!
I must be in the wrong job. 
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by Tony Kosten , France, Friday, August 01, 2008, 10:10 (6103 days ago) @ tapestry
? I must be in the wrong job.
Or the wrong country!
The French have twice as many public holidays as, say, the Americans.
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by tapestry , Hampshire, Friday, August 01, 2008, 11:55 (6102 days ago) @ Tony Kosten
? Or the wrong country!
? The French have twice as many public holidays as, say, the Americans.
Quite true. Annual work hours: France 1346 Great Britain 1652 USA 1777. (2004 figures)
However, the Netherlands looks like the place to emigrate - 1309 hours per year.
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
At a glance I too like Ne4 simply because it seems more active. But I'll put some more time in (working hours permitting) and see if I can find something more revealing in the position. My tendency is to assume white is better but only because it is a problem with white to move leading to the expectation that white has a move leading to an advantage...otherwise it looks even.
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by Tony Kosten , France, Sunday, August 31, 2008, 10:19 (6073 days ago) @ Mahout
? My tendency is to assume white is better but only because it is a problem
? with white to move leading to the expectation that white has a move
? leading to an advantage...
Actually White lost this particular ending!
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
As white I see two threats from black: Rb2 attacking the b3 pawn and also (after moving the king to release the pin) Bc6 setting up a double attack on the f2 pawn. Playing Ne4 seems to defend against both these threats as it can be followed with Ne2 should the black rook threaten the c3 pawn.
My first thoughts about what's next from here have been about bringing the white rook back to the third rank with the possibility of swinging it across to the g file later.
I also looked at playing 1.Ne4 Rb2 2.Nf6+ Kg7 3.Ne8+ etc. to see if this can either work out to a draw by repetition or lead to an exchange.. but have not been able to make a proper calculation of this line yet.
As you can probably tell from my text I've yet to find a concrete line that leads to either an advantage or a draw but these are the areas I'm looking at.
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
Heh, I had a big reply typed up, and when I clicked Submit, I got a webpage error and all the text is gone. This will be the really brief version:
Current situation: White's up the creek. Worse minor piece, worse pawn structure, and b3 / f2 will become targets for black very quickly. His one current plus is the active position of his rook, pinning black's bishop.
My suggestion is to ignore the defense of the b3 pawn (black's most immediate "threat" is to play Rb2 and Rxb3), and instead play 1. h4 Rb2 2. h5. If black immediately gobbles the b pawn, white plays h6 and h7+, winning the bishop, allowing him to easily draw (or possibly win). If black captures on h5, white recaptures with the knight and then sets up checks between f6 and h5, until black decides to move his king away from the g7-g8 squares, at which point white captures on f8 and has succeeded in exchanging off the minor pieces and one of his weak pawns (though it may cost him a pawn to do so, leaving us with a rook endgame where white can get his rook behind the B pawn and possibly force a draw).
What's still unclear to me is what white can do if black is smart enough to immediately break the pin on his bishop, trying to keep the minor pieces on the board. Say for instance, 1. h4 Kg7 2. h5 Bc5 3. Ne4 followed by hxg6 will at least get the weak h pawn off the board, but black keeps his bishop against white's knight, and the b3 / f2 pawns are still definitely targets. His drawing chances are much better than in the original position, though, and it may be that we're simply trying to give black chances to walk into a swindle, rather than being able to force a draw against his best moves.
Either way, h4 and h5 definitely seems to be the right plan to start with, though I'm a little fuzzy farther on in the calculations. Exact play in the endgame is still a weak spot for me. :)
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
Looking a bit closer at the position, I still like h4 (planning h5) as the best move, and I think it does lead to a draw, even when Black frees up his bishop. The most likely line looks like this:
1. h4 Kg7 2. h5 Bc5 3. Ne4 Ba7 4. hxg6 Kxg6 5. Kf3
Now, Black's only two attempts are the immediate f5, or Rb2.
If he goes for the B pawn with Rb2, white's earlier "passive setup" idea of putting his knight on d2 works perfectly. With his king on f3 (in front of black's f pawn) and the weaker h pawn off the board, Black can make no progress at all. White's position is solid.
If Black tries f5 to dislodge the knight and win on f2, white plays the obvious Rd6+, and Black's king has no squares that allow him to win:
Kf7 runs into Rf6+ and Rxf5. White will end up losing the b3 pawn, but the resulting Rook - Pawn - Piece endgame is a draw.
Kh5 and white plays Rd5, pinning the pawn. Black can do no better than just repeating the position (or he can play Rb2, leading to the same draw as in the Kf7 line with b3 and black's F pawn coming off the board).
If Black tries to avoid those moves by going onto his back rank, white's rook and knight are enough to force the draw, ie:
Kg7 Rd7+ Kf8 Nf6! Rxf2+ Kg3 f4+ Kg4, and now Black can't both keep his extra pawn and stop white from just playing Nh7+, Nf6+, Nh7+ for a draw (Black gets mated if he goes to h8).
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by Tony Kosten , France, Monday, September 29, 2008, 16:05 (6043 days ago) @ dlwyatt
Excellent! 
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
Thanks! :)
I'm curious to see if Black has a resource against these moves that I didn't spot... so far as I can tell, it's such a simplified position that I've pointed out all of his attempts to force a win. I think that all of the lines I gave for White cause the position to simplify even more, in ways that get rid of the disadvantages he had in the starting position.
It's a shame there seems to be so little forum activity for these, though. This one's been up for nearly 4 months with only two people posting about it before I joined. :( Is that why this particular puzzle has been up for so long, because there wasn't enough activity here for you to go ahead and post the solution?
Unlock Your Genius 10 June 2008
by Tony Kosten , France, Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 11:54 (6042 days ago) @ dlwyatt
? It's a shame there seems to be so little forum activity for these, though.
? This one's been up for nearly 4 months with only two people posting about
? it before I joined. :( Is that why this particular puzzle has been up
? for so long, because there wasn't enough activity here for you to go ahead
? and post the solution?
Exactly! I've no idea why there was so little reaction to this particular one. Anyway, I will put the solution up today, and then put a new one up in a few days.
