Author: Mark Rawlings
Date: 12:52:27 03/14/99
Go up one level in this thread
This is really an interesting position! Is the final consensus that it was a sound sacrifice? I let my programs search fairly deep with no real conclusion. After 1. .. Bh3 2. gxh3 Kf5 3. Kf2 Ke4 black still has a challenge forcing the win. I know some others must have been running this with faster computers, tablebases, etc. Any conclusions? Mark On March 12, 1999 at 21:42:53, Charles Milton Ling wrote: >Not me! It was Shirov himself who claimed that after Be4, the win was 40 moves >away... >Charley > >On March 10, 1999 at 19:41:42, Peter Kappler wrote: > >>On March 10, 1999 at 19:15:50, John Merlino wrote: >> >>>On March 10, 1999 at 02:33:14, Peter Kappler wrote: >>> >>>> >>>>8/8/4kpp1/3p1b2/p6P/2B5/6P1/6K1 b - - bm Bh3; id "Topalov-Shirov Linares 98"; >>>> >>>> >>>>Does everybody remember this game? It's from last year's Linares tournament, >>>>where Shirov played a shocking bishop sacrifice in the endgame and won >>>>brilliantly. I believe that post-mortem analysis proved it was the only way to >>>>win. (Please correct me if this is wrong) >>>> >>>>I watched this game live on ICC with dozens of others, and we were all quite >>>>impressed with Shirov's powers of calculation. >>>> >>>>This *should* be an extremely difficult problem for computers - but I'm sure >>>>somebody will tell me that Hiarcs or some other commercial program can solve it >>>>in 10 seconds. >>>> >>>>Just curious... >>>> >>>>--Peter >>> >>>Chessmaster 6000 could not find it after thinking for about a half-hour on a >>>P2-300. It preferred a3. >>> >>>Forgive a low-rated player, but why is this not a won position for black even if >>>he plays a3? I had Chessmaster play itself (30 sec/move -- not much but enough >>>to brute force at least 10 plies ahead on my machine) and black won easily in 30 >>>moves, announcing mate in 7 on move 23. >>> >>>jm >> >> >>John, >> >>I don't have the analysis of the game in front of me, but in general, >>opposite-colored bishop endings are terribly difficult to win even when one side >>is ahead one or two pawns. The reason for this is that the weaker side can >>dominate the squares that his bishop controls, making it much easier to blockade >>an extra pawn or two. >> >>In this position, for the a-pawn to queen, it will require Black to march his >>king over to that side of the board, but he must be careful not to allow White's >>king to pick off too many Black pawns. >> >>It's a tricky ending. Another person just posted that Be4 is the only other >>winning move, claiming that the win was some 40 moves away... >> >> >>--Peter
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