Chess Tournament RB #4 Lurker Thread

[pindicator]

Is there no way to undo a move? It seems only fair in that case, like a civ misclick.

Darrell

Meh, part of the game.

[Rowain]

Cyneheard - Rowain

After 11 ... Qxa3
Somehow I completely missed the Bishop. Now the game is more or less lost.

pindi - Rowain

I guess that's one of the games pindi talks above

[MJW (ya that one)]

gustaran -- mjw

I don't see the point of ...g6 so I'm just going to ignore it. I'll play Ne5 and f4 to exploit the fact that ...f6 is probably a bad idea because gustaran weakened his kingside already.

[regoarrarr]

Is there no way to undo a move? It seems only fair in that case, like a civ misclick.

Darrell

Meh, part of the game.

One thing that you can do if you talk to the person is to just have the other person make a "junk" move like moving a knight somewhere, then you can both take the next turn moving back to where you were.

Typically not done though as far as I know

[regoarrarr]

rowain-regoarrarr
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=83069056

As expected I lost my rook. I actually think though that instead of 8. Qxh8 he should have played
8.Qxg6+Ke7
9.Bg5+

I think that would have put him in better position

[regoarrarr]

further regoarrarring up the thread....

regoarrarr v. cyneheard
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=82625960

We'll see if 18. rxf6 was a great gambit or a huge blunder (probably the latter). My idea was to after 18... gxf6 to play 19. Nxe4, setting up a discovered check but in looking at it now he'll probably just move his king on move 19

[Gustaran]

Is there no way to undo a move? It seems only fair in that case, like a civ misclick.

Darrell

It is the equivalent of the RL touch-move rule.

And frankly, I am glad it is the way it is: You move the piece and then you even have an extra button to submit the move. So even if you click the wrong piece you can still go back. If you you fail at doing that, well I guess it's your own fault.
Just imagine checking your game in the morning, start thinking about your reply and when you finally want to make your move some time later, you discover that your opponent has retracted his earlier move and made another one in the meantime.

If you want to play a game which is not decided by simple blunders, there is always the option of starting a single "takeback" game on chess.com, which has a button for each player to take back moves at one's leisure.

[zakalwe]

Zakalwe vs. Regoarrarr

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=82784956

I made an ugly blunder with 17. Rc7 since it allowed him to trap my rook and exchange it for a bishop. Thankfully he didn't see this and went for a straight up rook trade instead. Still, the position is equal and I'll need more mistakes from him to get anything more than a draw.

[Cyneheard]

My first game is in the books - draw with Gustaran. And I think that it was a mistake to accept his draw.

Gustaran - When I got your draw offer, my first thought was "wait a second, Nxd4 makes my position decent, but it's not winning." I then flubbed an analysis where I saw you playing Rxa5 at some point and it messed me up (I think I missed that I could safely take the knight at that point - Rd1+ (or Rxd1+ depending) and Rhd8 were key), and took the draw.

Well, I should have double-checked how it plays out more thoroughly before accepting the draw. The undeveloped rook + knight keep your position weak - it was going to be very difficult for me to end up drawing.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=82625988#

I couldn't tell which of your two options for move 15 end up better - I think axb4, but I'm not sure.

14. ... Rxd7
15. axb4 Nxe2+
16. Kf1 Rxd1+ (... Nxg3+ 17. Ke1 and I don't pick up the exchange)
17. Kxe2 Rhd8

14. ...Rxd7
15. Rxd4 Rxd4
16. axb4 Rd1+
17. Bf1 Rhd8

EDIT: The chess.computer (@2000 strength) disagrees, and says that it's a drawish position. 13. a3 is the only move it truly didn't like - I don't put too much stock in the ?! symbols that it gave for a few moves. Not convinced it's right, though - 18. bxa5 looks like a blunder when I play Rc1.
14. ... Rxd7
15. Rxd4 Rxd4
16. axb4 Rd1+
17. Bf1 Rhd8
18. bxa5 R8d5 (disagree with the last move - I think 18. ...Rc1 is stronger: if you haven't extracted any of your back-row pieces before I play R8d1, I win a piece)

I think Kg2 with the idea of playing e3 or e4 to open up the Bishop would be helpful.

http://www.chess.com/home/computer_analy...ame_type=1

[Gustaran]

My first game is in the books - draw with Gustaran. And I think that it was a mistake to accept his draw.

Gustaran - When I got your draw offer, my first thought was "wait a second, Nxd4 makes my position decent, but it's not winning." I then flubbed an analysis where I saw you playing Rxa5 at some point and it messed me up (I think I missed that I could safely take the knight at that point - Rd1+ (or Rxd1+ depending) and Rhd8 were key), and took the draw.

Well, I should have double-checked how it plays out more thoroughly before accepting the draw. The undeveloped rook + knight keep your position weak - it was going to be very difficult for me to end up drawing.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=82625988#

I couldn't tell which of your two options for move 15 end up better - I think axb4, but I'm not sure.

14. ... Rxd7
15. axb4 Nxe2+
16. Kf1 Rxd1+ (... Nxg3+ 17. Ke1 and I don't pick up the exchange)
17. Kxe2 Rhd8

This is the main line. I gave it to Houdini 4 (Elo 3248) and the best continuation is:

18. Be4! after which you can't play 18...axb4 because you would lose a rook.
19. Ra8+ Kd7
20. Kxd1

Of course, you don't have to play 18...axb4, you could choose 18...Rc1 and after 19.Rxa5 you indeed have a 1.5 pawn advantage, but only if you find 19...f5, otherwise it drops to less than a pawn.

So obviously, against a player of equal strength you should have declined a draw offer and played it out.
If it actually was a mistake to accept it or not is something only you can answer. Objectively, you were better. On the other hand if you followed these tournaments I have turned around games from larger disadvantages. I don't think starting with a draw against me is that bad.

14. ...Rxd7
15. Rxd4 Rxd4
16. axb4 Rd1+
17. Bf1 Rhd8

This would be desastrous, since 18...axb4 is actually stronger than Rhd8. Take a look, White hardly has any sensible moves left. Evaluation is -6.5.

EDIT: I need to elaborate the second line, since it looks like White can win a rook:

18.Ra8+ Kd7
19.Rxh8 Rxb1
20.Ra8 b3
21.Ra3 Rxb2
22.Ra1 c3
23.e3 Rd2
24.Rb1 c2

and Black wins. Of course the draw was offered 10 moves earlier and I personally can't calculate 10 moves ahead, so nobody knows if either of us would have chosen this line. I personally don't like giving up a whole rook and relying on such a long variation. 17. ...Rhd8 like you suggested is the 2nd best move and would have given you a winning advantage as well.