Realms Beyond Chess Tournament #5

[ipecac]

What's the etiquette on endgame studies? Say, for example, that you reach a KNB vs K endgame - are you allowed to consult a guide on how to win that position?

Given the opening books and databases are allowed, endgame databases should be included; I don't see why endgame books should be forbidden too.

Edit: so I checked the first post and my memory was wrong: endgame tablebases aren't allowed.

Novice: I actually looked up a (future) position in our current game using Nalimov tablebases...

The line is in the spoilers:

I looked up the position after 62... Kc3 63. d6 Be6 64. d7 Bd7 65. Rd7

The tablebases confirmed my evaluation that White wins.

[novice]

I think there's a difference between tablebases, which tell you specifically what move to play in a given position, and endgame "algorithms", though?

[novice]

Oh, and I don't know if I'm supposed to look at that spoilered line, but at any rate let's not worry about that.

[ipecac]

Oh, and I don't know if I'm supposed to look at that spoilered line, but at any rate let's not worry about that.

Well, since I got information that I wasn't supposed to have, I wanted to give you the choice of whether to see it.

My apologies for the error. How do you want the matter to proceed?

[novice]

Let's just play on, that spoiler is probably a Pandora's box as I don't even know what lines you are considering or what the correct evaluation of the current position is.

Here's the game, for the lurkers:
http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=97793290

[novice]

GG ipecac. That was a fun endgame struggle.

[ipecac]

GG ipecac. That was a fun endgame struggle.

GG

I like the opening; I've got 2/2 so far with it

[novice]

GG Zak. Turns out my knight sacrifice did give me the advantage, but proved too difficult to convert for me. Well played.

[novice]

Zakalwe-Novice

Hmmm. Maybe I'm winning?

I can now play:

32. Re4 a3 (or he drops the pawn on a4)
33. Nxe7+ Nxe7
34. Ra4

... and the pawn on a3 drops because he must defend against the back rank mate before playing b2.

Alternatively, a more tricky line which may be what he is going for:

32. Re4 a3
33. Nxe7+ Kf8
34. Nxd5 exd5

... after which he is down *two* pieces but hitting my rook as well as threatening to play b2.

But after 35. Re2, can't I just bring my king over and clean up?

I've tried all kinds of intermediate moves and tricks but I really can't see what he's aiming for here. Maybe he just missed the threat of back rank mate - time will tell.

I missed the move 32. Re4 completely, and 31. ..Rb5 was probably my decisive mistake. The line we followed was completely improvised on my end.

[zakalwe]

Yep, looks like the computer agrees that was a turning point, although I had some inaccuracies after that, too. Kudos for taking a chance with that knight sacrifice and playing for a win. That certainly made the game a lot more interesting.