Author: Ricardo Gibert
Date: 04:22:59 09/05/00
The following position arose on ICC between Crafty & Kyfats. Kyfats is
apparently Chess Tiger 12 on a 800mhz PIII w/256Mb RAM.
[D]4k3/5pp1/7p/3q4/1Q6/4K3/5P1P/8 w - - 6 56
Now Crafty played the horrible 56.Qe4+, which exchanges Queens. Between strong
human players, such a move would never be played unless the inferior side is
certain they can draw the pawn ending. You never "hope" to draw a pawn ending,
you must be certain. Almost always the win, if it exists, is easy to find.
In the actual game, the situation is even worse. In the resulting pawn ending,
Crafty is a pawn down in a otherwise "normal" position. Even if Black could
force the win of a second pawn in the Queen ending (I don't see how), the choice
to enter a pawn ending was incorrect, since the pawn ending is lost.
Queen endings are notoriously difficult to play. Good defensive play recognizes
this. In the second Fischer-Spassky match, Bobby blew a winning Queen ending
where he was more than one pawn up.
I think the situation is similar to the middlegame situation of capturing an a2
or a7 pawn with a bishop. The program should generally avoid this unless certain
of extricating the bishop. Here the inferior pawn ending should be avoided
unless it is certain it is a draw. The practical chances are terrible in both
cases.
Here is the Crafty-Kyfats game in full:
[Event "ICC 5 3"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2000.09.02"]
[Round "-"]
[White "crafty"]
[Black "KyFats"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2974"]
[BlackElo "3111"]
[Opening "QGD: Tartakower variation"]
[ECO "D59"]
[NIC "QO.10"]
[Time "03:58:46"]
[TimeControl "300+3"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8.
cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Be6 12. Qa4 c5 13. Qa3 Rc8 14.
Be2 Kf8 15. dxc5 bxc5 16. O-O Nd7 17. Rfd1 Rcb8 18. Qc3 Qd6 19. Bc4 Nf6 20.
b3 a5 21. Qc2 a4 22. bxa4 Bg4 23. Bb3 Ra5 24. Qd2 Qb6 25. Bxd5 Rd8 26. e4
Nxd5 27. exd5 Bxf3 28. gxf3 Rxa4 29. Qe3 Rd4 30. Rxd4 cxd4 31. Qe4 Qg6+ 32.
Kf1 Qh5 33. Qxd4 Qxf3 34. Rd1 Re8 35. Kg1 Kg8 36. Rc1 Re4 37. Qc3 Rg4+ 38.
Kf1 Qg2+ 39. Ke2 Re4+ 40. Kd3 Qf3+ 41. Kc2 Re2+ 42. Kb1 Qxd5 43. Rc2 Qb5+
44. Kc1 Re8 45. Qd4 Qf1+ 46. Kb2 Rb8+ 47. Kc3 Qb5 48. Qe4 Re8 49. Qf4 Rc8+
50. Kd2 Qd5+ 51. Kc1 Rxc2+ 52. Kxc2 Qxa2+ 53. Kd3 Qd5+ 54. Ke3 Kf8 55. Qb4+
Ke8 56. Qe4+ Qxe4+ 57. Kxe4 Ke7 58. Ke5 g6 59. h4 f6+ 60. Kd5 Kf7 61. Ke4
Ke6 62. f4 h5 63. f5+ gxf5+ 64. Kf4 Ke7 65. Ke3 Kd6 66. Kf4 Ke6 67. Kg3 Ke5
68. Kf3 f4 69. Kf2 Ke4 70. Ke2 f3+ 71. Kd2 Kd4 72. Ke1 Ke3 73. Kd1 f2 74.
Kc2 f1=Q 75. Kb3 Ke4 76. Kc3 Qd3+ 77. Kb2 Kd4 78. Ka2 {White resigns} 0-1
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