Saturday, October 28, 2017

Alan Lasser's Game of the Week

  Are the computers up to something?  The opponents in this game at TCEC 10 assembled a knight formation on the c-file, maintaining it for a dozen moves.  The programs are not supposed to be communicating with each other.  It’s just some random occurrence the way the remaining knights lined up again in the game and a couple of times in the analysis.  

 
Ginkgo 2(3042)-Nirvana 2.4(3034)
1.d4 d5 
2.c4 c6 
9.a3 a6 
 
55...Ke7 56.Ne4 Ne2 The third time that the knights form up in analysis variations. 57.Nd5+ Kf7 58.Ndxf6 h6 59.Nh5Nd4 60.Nhg3 Kg6 61.f4 gxf4 62.Kxf4 h5 63.h4 Nc2 64.Nf2 Ne1 65.Nf5 Ng2+ 66.Kg3 Nxh4 67.Nxh4+ Stockfish, looking ahead 73 ply from here, can't find a forced mate, probably because the winning technique is too long.  The king does not seem to be on a square where mate can be forced, according to Benko’s work on this ending.  Over-the-board, it’s worth playing out to see if the defender does place the king on a bad square.  The tournament director must be alerted that the procedure is longer than the fifty-move rule, hopefully the TD will have the patience to permit you to try.
62.Nd6+ Ke6 1-0
 
 

 

[Event "TCEC 10"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2017.10.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ginkgo 2"]
[Black "Nirvana 2.4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "3034"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "3042"]
 
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 e6 7.e3 Be7 8.h3 O-O
9.a3 a6 10.Bd3 b5 11.Rc1 Bb7 12.O-O Nh5 13.Bh2 Nf6 14.b4 Nd7 15.Nd2 Nb6
16.Nb3 Nc4 17.Ra1 Qb6 ( 17...Re8 18.Qe2 h6 19.Bg3 e5 20.Nc5 Bc8 21.Bxc4 bxc4
22.dxe5 Bxc5 23.bxc5 d4 24.exd4 Nxd4 25.Qxc4 Be6 { +0.43   Stockfish } )
18.Nc5 Rfd8 19.Qb1 g6 20.Rc1 Nd2 21.Qc2 Nc4 22.Rcb1 Rac8 23.Qe2 Bf6 ( 
23...Ba8 24.Bg3 e5 25.a4 Bb7 26.axb5 axb5 27.dxe5 Nxb4 28.Rxb4 Bc6 29.e6 Qxc5
30.exf7+ Kxf7 31.Rab1 Na3 32.R1b3 d4 33.Rxd4 Rxd4 34.exd4 Qxd4
{ +0.88    Stockfish } ) 24.Bg3 Be7 25.Ra2 Re8 ( 25...e5 26.Bxc4 dxc4 27.Nxb7
Qxb7 28.d5 Nd4 29.Qe1 Bf6 30.exd4 exd4 31.Ne4 Bg7 32.d6 d3 33.Qe3 Qc6 34.Nc5
Bf8 35.d7 Rxd7 36.Nxd7 Qxd7 37.Rd2 Re8 38.Qf3 h6 39.Rbd1 Bg7
{ Stockfish values the connected passed pawns highly, thinking this
position only favors White by 0.72. } ) 26.a4 Red8 27.Qf3 Re8 28.Bf4 Rcd8
29.Be2 e5 30.axb5 axb5 31.Bxc4 bxc4 $6 { +1.78/22 } ( 31...dxc4 { +1.39/22 }
32.Nxb7
{ 32. dxe5 Bc8 33. Ra8 Rf8 34. Nd5 Rxd5 35. Qxd5 Kg7 36. Qd2 g5 37. Bg3 Rd8
38. Qb2 Bxc5 39. e6+ f6 40. bxc5 Qb7 41. e7 Re8    +2.00   Stockfish }
32...Qxb7 33.Bxe5 Rd7 34.Bg3 Nxb4 35.Qxb7 Rxb7 36.Rab2 Nd3 37.Rxb5 Rxb5
38.Rxb5 Rc8 39.e4 Ba3 40.Rb7 Bb2 41.Nd5 Ra8 42.Be5 c3 43.Rc7 Nxe5 44.dxe5 c2
45.Rxc2 Bxe5 46.f4 Bd4+ 47.Kh2 Ra1 48.e5 Bg1+ 49.Kg3 ) 32.Bh6 exd4 33.Nxd5
Ne5 34.Nxb6 Bxf3 35.exd4 Rxd4 36.gxf3 g5 37.Kf1 $6 { +1.28/22 } ( 37.Re2 f6
38.Ne6 Rd3 39.Nxg5 Rd6 40.Na4 fxg5 41.Rxe5 Rxh6 42.b5 Kf7 43.Rbe1 Rd6 44.R1e4
Rd7 45.Kg2 Rb8 46.Rxc4 Bf6 { +1.96   Stockfish } ) 37...Nxf3 38.Rba1 c3 39.Ra8
Rxa8 40.Rxa8+ Rd8 41.Rxd8+ Bxd8 42.Nbd7 c2 43.Nd3 f6 44.b5 Nd4 45.b6 Bxb6
46.Nxb6 Nf5 47.Nd5 Nxh6 48.Ne3 Kf7 49.Ke2 ( 49.Nxc2 Nf5 50.f4 h6 51.Kg2 Kg6
52.Kf3 Nh4+ 53.Ke4 f5+ 54.Ke3 Kf6 55.Kf2 Ng6 56.Nd4 Ne7 57.Nb4 Kg6 58.Kf3 Kf6
59.Kg2 Kg6 60.Ndc6 Nc8 61.Nd5 Kf7 62.Nd4 Nd6
{ Line them up again!   +2.10   Stockfish } ) 49...Ke7 ( 49...Kg6 50.Nxc2 Nf7
51.f4 Nd6 52.Ne3 h6 53.Kf3 f5 54.Ne5+ Kf6 55.Nc6 Ne4 56.Nd4 Nd6 57.Nd5+ Kg6
{ The knights go back in formation and Stockfish thinks White is winning by
2.36 } ) 50.Nxc2 Nf5 51.Kf3 Ke6 52.Ne3 Nd6 53.Kg4 Ne4 54.f3 Nc3 $6
{ The last time the knights line up in the game.  +3.59/32 } ( 54...Nd2
{ +2.60/30 } 55.f4 gxf4 56.Kxf4 Nb3
{ 56...Ke7 57. Kg4 Kd6 58. Kf5 Nf3 59. Kxf6 h5 60. Kf5 h4 61. Ng2 Kd5 62.
Ndf4+ Kc5 63. Ne2 Kd5 64. Kf4 Ne5 65. Nxh4 Nd3+ 66. Ke3 Nc5    +5.35  
Stockfish } 57.h4 Kf7 58.Kf5 Nd4+ 59.Ke4 Ne6 60.Nf4 Ng5+ 61.Kd3 Nf3 62.h5 Ng5
63.Nf5 Nf3 64.Ke3 Ne5 65.Ke4 Nc4 66.Ne3 Ne5 67.Nd3 Nc6 68.Nf5 Nd8 69.Nf4 ) ( 
54...Nd6 55.Nc5+ Kf7 56.Kh5 Nb5 57.Nd3 Nd4 58.f4 gxf4 59.Nxf4 Kg7 60.Kg4 Kf8
61.Nf5 Nb5 62.Kh5 Nc3 63.Kh6 Kg8 64.Ne7+ Kh8 65.Nfd5 Ne4
{ +5.24   Stockfish } ) 55.Nc5+ Ke5 $6
{ +4.44/31  } ( 55...Kf7
{ +3.59/30 } 56.Ne4 Nb5 57.Nd5 Nd4
{ 57...Kg6 58. Ndxf6 Nd4 59. f4 gxf4 60. Kxf4 Nc2 61. h4 h5 62. Nd7 Ne1 63.
Ne5+ Kg7 64. Nf3 Ng2+ 65. Ke5 Kf8 66. Ng3 Kf7 67. Kf5 Ne3+ 68. Ke4 Ng2 69.
Ke5 Ke8 70. Kf5 Kf7 71. Ne2 Ne3+ 72. Ke4 Ng2 73. Nf4 Nxh4 74. Nxh4  The famous idea where the presence of the opponent's pawn will provide the two
knights an opportunity to force a mate may not be in effect here. According to Benko’s analysis(#200 in Basic Chess Endings), the Black king is not on a square where it must lose.  The correct procedure can be over 100 moves so it’s no wonder the Stockfish program can’t find it. }
58.Nexf6 Kg6 59.Kg3 Ne2+ 60.Kf2 Nd4 61.Kg2 h6 62.Ng4 Nc6 63.Kf2 Nd4 ) ( 
55...Ke7 56.Ne4 Ne2
{ The third time that the knights form up in analysis variations. } 57.Nd5+
Kf7 58.Ndxf6 h6 59.Nh5 Nd4 60.Nhg3 Kg6 61.f4 gxf4 62.Kxf4 h5 63.h4 Nc2 64.Nf2
Ne1 65.Nf5 Ng2+ 66.Kg3 Nxh4 67.Nxh4+
{ Stockfish, looking ahead 73 ply from here, can't find a forced mate, probably because the winning technique is too long. 
The king does not seem to be on a square where mate can be forced, according to Benko’s work on this ending.  Over-the-board, it’s worth playing out to see if the defender does place the king on a bad square.  The tournament must be alerted that the procedure is longer than the fifty-move rule, hopefully the TD will have the patience to permit you to try.} ) 56.Nd7+ Ke6 57.Nf8+ Ke5 $2
{ +7.24/34 } ( 57...Kf7 { +4.09/31 } 58.Nxh7 Kg7
{ 58...Kg6 59. Nf8+ Kg7 60. Ne6+ Kg6 61. Nc5 Nb5 62. Nd3 Kf7 63. f4 gxf4
64. Nxf4 Nd6   +43.47   Stockfish } 59.Nxg5 fxg5 60.Kxg5 Nb1 61.f4 ) 58.Nc4+
Kd5 59.Nxh7 Ke6 60.Nxg5+ fxg5 61.Kxg5 Kf7 62.Nd6+ Ke6 1-0
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