Chess

[Jkaen]

ok team match is set up now just realised tomorrow is thanksgiving for a lot of you, so I will lock the team in about 48 hours to give people a chance to see it.

I set the cap as 1650 which excludes 3 of our players (who didn't sign up for the last one) but should give the rest of us more of a chance

[Jkaen]

Link to match HERE

[novice]

I held Cyneheard to a draw in my first ever correspondence chess game.
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=79392122

[Gustaran]

Why did you guys agree to a draw? Did you both calculate the line 38...Ke4 39. Nc5 Ke3?

[novice]

Why did you guys agree to a draw? Did you both calculate the line 38...Ke4 39. Nc5 Ke3?

AFAICT I would lose all my pawns (in exchange for the white knight) and could only draw or lose in that line. Did I miscalculate?

I would love your analysis of the game obviously.

[Gustaran]

I would love your analysis of the game obviously.

First I would like to see your line. What is the variation where you lose all your pawns for the white knight?

[Cyneheard]

I knew he could force the draw by repeating Kd5 and Ke4. So I took it then.

Instead of Kd5:

Kxf4 b4
axb4 Nd3+
Ke3 Nxb4
d3 Nxd3
Kxd3 a5; worst case is draw for me.

Ke3 b4
d3 Nb3
d2 Nxd2
Kxd2 bxa5
That draws; he can't get to my a-pawn without giving up the g-pawn

Ke3 b4
axb4 a5
d3 Nb3
d2 Nxd2
Kxd2 a6
b3 a7
b2 a8=Q
b1=Q

That should draw too.

[Gustaran]

That's why I like to see the your variations

Instead of Kd5:

Ke3 b4
d3 Nb3
d2 Nxd2
Kxd2 bxa5
That draws; he can't get to my a-pawn without giving up the g-pawn

EDIT: OK, I was confused because you wrote the Black move first, which is hard to read. Use move numbers and the White move is first if you write in a column. After Black plays 40...d3 White can reply with 41.Nxd3! (instead of 41. Nb3? which seems to lose after 41...axb4) and White wins.

Ke3 b4
axb4 a5
d3 Nb3
d2 Nxd2
Kxd2 a6
b3 a7
b2 a8=Q
b1=Q

That should draw too.

Indeed, the resulting position at the end of your variation should be a draw. Unfortunately, after 42. Nb3? Black has the resource 42...Nd4! and this time White is lost.

These are just two examples why I usually recommend playing endgames out instead of agreeing to an easy draw. These knight endgames are very complicated and in order to improve actually playing these positions until the end is good practice.

[Gustaran]

Link to match HERE

Why did you guys decide to play 3 days/move as well as only 1 concurrent game? This might take a long time...

[pindicator]

I noticed that after the game started