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| Posted by loreta ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 01:18:40 Play online chess |  Subject: Knight vs pawnsMessage: Hi, just a (simple) question: do 3 connected pawns win against alone Knight? Let's say a position is (or anything like that): W.: Kh2, Ng2 B.: Kf6, h7, g6, f5 | ||||||||||||
| Posted by soikins ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 02:50:21 Play online chess | simple answer Message: From the practical point of view -- only black can win, therefore black is better. In this particular position it probably is a draw: 1) Pawns are far away from the queening squares; 2) Black king is not centralised; 3) Whites pieces are well placed in front of opponents pawns. Thought, I'm no endgame expert. | ||||||||||||
| Posted by kings_pondus ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 02:56:03 Play online chess | Just my 2 cents Message: Yes :). 3 connected pawns are superior to a knight. ——— Chess: Berbatov's long shot — Football fans will recognise the name. This is the Manchester United striker's 15-year-old cousin, Kiprian, a rising star in Bulgarian chess. He has just played his pawn to b4 – and set an evil trap. How should Black reply? RB: I had the wild notion of responding with 1…axb4. No one likes tripled pawns, but then I realised that with three pawns to clear on the b-file, White would have his hands full while Black could make merry on the opposite wing. But that's precisely the problem – what can Black do on the kingside? Not much that I can see. So, to be sensible, it's either 1…a4 or 1…b6. I prefer 1…a4, locking the queenside and giving Black a chance to improve his position on ... Posted by marxisgod21 | ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 05:11:48 Play online chess Pawns are generally betterMessage: The 3 connected pawns should win 90% of the time except if the White king or knight is extremely advanced and well-placed and the black king is far away. For example, if in Loreta's position the white king was on h6 and the black king was on a8 it's a draw for sure. The only other thing the side with the three pawns has to be aware of is the possibility of sacrificing the knight for two of the pawns and then reaching a drawn K+P vs. K endgame. The advantage of the pawns against the knight is that the pawns can be used to cut off certain squares from the knight (this is what Steinitz/Silman refer to as taking away a knight's "advanced support points") and so the knight will have very limited mobility once the pawns get rolling. ——— Graybeards of the Chess Board to Battle for the World Title — Boris Gelfand, an Israeli grandmaster, was the surprise winner of the World Chess Championship Candidates Matches in Kazan, Russia, which ended Wednesday. Gelfand was the second-lowest-ranked chess player among the competitors, as well as the oldest; he turns 43 next month. The victory gives him a title match next year against Viswanathan Anand, the world chess champion, who turns 42 in December. Chess has become a young man’s game, and Gelfand and Anand will be the oldest championship opponents since 1934, when Alexander Alekhine, 41, defeated Efim Bogoljubov, 45, to retain the title. Gelfand, who was born in Belarus, has never played for the title, which is remarkable in ... Posted by loreta | ability-tw.com 1/17/2005 22:54:31 Play online chess NextMessage: What I learn from above: 1) There're positions, when 3p couldn't win, for example, I wonder if Black could win after: W.: Kh6, Nf3 B.: Kg8, h7, g6, f5 2) If pawns are at both wings, the win have to be easy, for example: W.: Kf2, Ng2 B.: Kf6, a7, h7, g6 3) Looking to soikins options, let's advance Black pieces: W.: Kf2, Ng2 B.: Kf5, h5, g5, f4 That position could arrive from initial position after few moves (maybe, not the best). It's hardly seen that White could exchange Knight for two pawns... ——— On Chess: Tiny American was titan of tenacity — Is it possible to be 5 feet tall and yet be a formidable sporting icon? It is in chess - a gymnasium of the mind where size, speed and physical strength are incidental. Two small chess players who immediately come to mind are the 19th century's Paul Morphy and our contemporary Anatoly Karpov, who in his prime weighed little more than 130 pounds. And, of course, there was the diminutive Sammy Reshevsky (1911-92), who was justifiably feared by the Soviets as an unpredictable chess player of great talent in the post-World War II period. Reshevsky dominated the American chess scene until Bobby Fischer eclipsed him in the late 1950s and thereafter. No one - including himself, Fischer admitted - could ... Posted by soikins | ability-tw.com 1/18/2005 03:12:22 Play online chess loretaMessage: "3) Looking to soikins options, let's advance Black pieces: W.: Kf2, Ng2 B.: Kf5, h5, g5, f4 That position could arrive from initial position after few moves (maybe, not the best). It's hardly seen that White could exchange Knight for two pawns... " Well, IMO, white is not forced to conceed to such a position. Actually, he should do some lousy job, to reach this losing position. There certainly are better ways to defend. What are the ideas for white in the initial position? Blockade of course. King and knight are good for that purpose. At a quick glance and looking at some variations, it seems to me that white holds. I'll have to consult some endgame books at home. Some analysis: Position: W.: Kh2, Ng2 B.: Kf6, h7, g6, f5 1. Kg3 (white must activate his king) g5!? 2. ... Ke5 3. Nf4! And I don’t see a way for black to proceed (Interesting to note, that whites king activity might be suicidal: 3. Kh4? aiming for blockade on g5, but it fails: 3. ... Ke4 4. Kg5 Kf3 5. Ne1 Ke3! white seems to be in zugzwang 6. Nc2+ (6. Kh4 also fails) Ke4 7. Na3 (7. Ne1 loses after f4 8. Kg4 h5+ 9. Kh4 Ke3 10. Ng2+ Kf3 11. Ne1+ Ke4 -+ zugzwang again) 7. ... f4 8. Kh4 (8. Kg4 h5 -+) Ke3 9. Nc2+ Kd3 10. Ne1+ Ke2 11. Ng2 Kf3 12. Ne1+ Ke4 13. Kg4 h5+ -+ and we have reached the same position as in the 7. Ne1 variation. Some nice king moneuvring and black wins.) 3. … g5 4. Nh5 and blacks king has to retreat to e6 4. … Ke6 5. Ng7+ Kf6 6. Ne8+ Kf7 7. Nd6+ Thought knight chasing is interesting but hard to analyse, so I won’t try. 2. Ne1!? h5 (if 2. … Ke5 then after 3. Nf3+ Kf6 4. Nd4 h5 black has wasted time and improved whites knight position) 3. Nd3 and white controlls the vital e5 square. 3. … h4+ 4. Kf3 Ke6 (4. … g4? 5. Kf4 =) 5. Ke3 Kd5 Ne1! and black is stuck. ——— 'Bobby Fischer' documentary captures audience — Our brains tell us fame is fleeting, but do we believe it? Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan -- could they all really be wiped out of our cultural consciousness? You may not learn a lot about chess in Bobby Fischer Against the World, Liz Garbus's well-documented film about arguably the greatest and most tragic chess player that ever lived. But you do learn a lot about fame, and its possible relation to pathology. In his day, the ironically-shy/perceived-arrogant chess prodigy was among the most recognizable faces on Earth. When he played Soviet Boris Spassky in Reykjavik for the World Title in 1972, it led the news over coups, wars and elections. And then something ... Posted by optimist | ability-tw.com 1/18/2005 11:05:58 Play online chess Afek's Endgame StudyMessage: For a good understanding of a knight vs pawns, you should look at this endgame study by Yochanan Afek. white: Kh8, Nf8 black: Kc1, Nh7 and pawns on b7, g6 and g7 Draw. I will not give the solution right away, but pls try to find it yourself. ——— Boris Gelfand to challenge for world crown after beating Alex Grischuk — Israel's Boris Gelfand beat Russia's Alex Grischuk 3.5-2.5 in the candidates final in Kazan on Wednesday and will challenge for Vishy Anand's world chess crown in 2012. Gelfand is 42, Anand 41, and it will be the first time since 1934 that two over-40s have played for the unified world chess championship. Gelfand is only ranked world No 16, and Anand leads 7-0 in their decisive classical games since 1995, so the Indian will be long odds-on to win. Gelfand's success will be overshadowed by the record 90 per cent draw rate, 27/30, in the slow classical games at Kazan, where the eight chess grandmasters refused to take risks until the tie-breaks. Only four classical games, six in the final, were scheduled before ... Posted by loreta | ability-tw.com 1/20/2005 23:40:14 Play online chess NextMessage: So seems, initial position could lead to a draw: W.: Kh2, Ng2 B.: Kf6, h7, g6, f5 To optimist: give solution, I wonder, if somebody will go deep into.... Posted by atrifix | ability-tw.com 1/22/2005 18:36:37 Play online chess SolutionMessage: White cannot take the knight, obviously, so the only move is 1. Nxg6. 1. Nxg6 Nf8! 1... b5 2. Kxh7 b4 3. Kxg7 b3 4. Ne5 b2 (or else 5. Nc4) 5. Nd3+= 2. Nxf8 g5 3. Nh7! The point is that the knight must keep attacking the pawn. If 3. Ne6?? g4 4. Nf4 the b-pawn will queen. 3... g4 4. Nf6 g3 5. Nh5! g2 6. Nf4 g1=Q 7. Ne2+ Kd2 8. Nxg1 Ke3! 9. Nh3 b5 10. Ng5 b4 11. Nf7 b3 12. Nd6 Kd4 13. Nb5+ Kc4 14. Na3+ with a book draw. And I agree with soikins, of course. The pawns are "better" but in the given position Black cannot win even if White puts up very mediocre defense. |