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Subject: A loss difficult to calculate?

Author: Jeroen van Dorp

Date: 13:41:53 10/22/03


[D]8/2k2p2/7p/5p2/2p5/P7/6PP/4K3 b - - 0 38

From my viewpoint, this game is lost for black. The king can't both attend the
white a-pawn and simultaniously be in time back to the kingside to defend his
kingside pawns and stop the march of white.

It seems most programs start out with an equal evaluation, but as soon as you
start playing these variations, they start to drop rapidly. From the start some
favouring black, some favouring white a little, in the end playing through all
variations it seems they all admit black is lost. The fail highs and fail lows
are passing by in rapid sequences.

***

It was an irritating "loss"; without even time trouble I managed to screw up a
won game from this position:

[D]2k5/5p2/7p/5p2/2p5/P1Kp4/3Rr1PP/8 b - - 0 35

Here I play the unbelievable 35...Kc7? which loses immediately. Of course a
simple 35...Rxd2 would have won the game. After exchanging the rooks by white we
ended in the position offered above, and my opponent offered _draw_ (sic) which
I readily accepted... in after-game analysis we both concluded he gave away the
game as much as I did.

It's good to see that I'm not the only one who finds rook and pawn endgames a
recipe for a serious headache.

J.



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