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Posted by kansaspatzer
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6/07/2008
14:03:34

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Subject: Philidor Position?

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Recently I studied the Philidor and Lucena Positions. Although the Lucena is straightforward enough, I understand the basics of the Philidor but am not sure about how to apply it in an actual game situation or when exactly it comes up. I just finished this game, and I think that around move 66 I missed a chance to utilize this drawing resource. Can anybody tell me if I did?

gameknot.com


Posted by bonsai
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6/07/2008
15:23:12

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You are right you reached Philidor's position (or something very much like it) several times and could have drawn easily.

The position 60.Rxf4 should be an easy draw, not sure why you gave away your f6 pawn, even so it was all still easily drawn, because your king was on the promotion square. With 67...Ra6+ you nicely set up a third (sixth) rank defence (=Philidor's position) which easily holds the draw.

69...Ra7 is still a draw, but why bother with taking the rook of the 6th rank?? Just wait until his pawn has advanced far enough to not give his king any place to hide from checks and then go to the first rank and check him.

In the same sense 71...Ra6 was the right move. 71...Ra5 looses - white could have played 72.Kf6, but he missed that, after 72.Rh7 you could once more have held it with 72...Ra6.

After missing that the defence became more complicated. 75...Re1 would still have drawn for black, but it's harder to do. 75...Kf8 looses. However white doesn't really know what he's doing 77.Ra5 is a pointless move that throws away the win, the rook is great on the 8th rank and one should just play 77.Kd6 to advance the pawn (and if Rd1+ then Ke7).

After 86...Kf7 you've once more got a nice third rank defence, but you once more go for the wrong kind of continuation with 87...Ra5 and this time white punishes it properly and doesn't let the win slip away, again.


Posted by kansaspatzer
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6/08/2008
02:04:22

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Message:
Thanks for the detailed analysis. A pure Philidor position, then, is reached when the pawn is on the sixth rather than fifth rank? That is what had thrown me off - once I was at move 70 or so, I assumed that I had already missed my chance.
———
Endgames, part 1: Rook against Bishop — A superb lesson from Magnus Carlsen in endgame technique. It's been a while since we looked at the endgame, so this week we begin a short series on this often neglected area with a terrific demonstration of endgame technique from the ever-improving chess world No 1 Magnus Carlsen. Although White has the advantage of rook against bishop, Black has an extra pawn and a solid position on the chess board. How did Carlsen make progress? RB I'm pretty sure the answer lies in g4. The question is whether to nudge the pawn forward immediately or whether some preparation is needed first, perhaps exchanging on d5 or advancing the king to e3. The only way is concrete calculation, so let's see what ...
Posted by marinvukusic
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6/08/2008
02:31:49

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Wikipedia is your friend

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en.wikipedia.org

Much better than asking on a forum IMHO
———
Dortmund Begins — The Sparkassen Chess-Meeting (an odd name, to be sure) began Thursday in Dortmund. Though the chess tournament is not at the level of Linares or Corus, it still attracts top players, notably Vladimir Kramnik, the former world chess champion from Russia. Kramnik has been associated with Dortmund, as the chess event is often referred to, for many years because he has won the tournament nine times, far more than any other. He first won it in 1995 and is the defending champion this year. The tournament is a double-round robin this year, meaning each competitor plays all the others twice, once with each color. In addition to Kramnik, the No. 4 chess player in the world, the field includes ...
Posted by bonsai
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6/08/2008
02:49:14

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Message:
The position with your king on/next to the promotion square, your rook on the 6th rank as black (or 3rd rank as white) and his pawn on the 5th rank is what is called Philidor's position (or the third rank defence). The way to draw it is to keep the rook on the 6th (3rd) rank until he advances the pawn beyond to the 6th rank, then the rook goes to the first (8th) rank and keeps checking the king.
———
Zhao and Zatonskih Lead Chess Championships — Anna Zatonskih, the defending chess champion, took the lead of the U.S. Women’s Championship on Wednesday, while Parker Zhao, the ninth seed, solidified his grip on the U.S. Junior Championship. The two chess tournaments are being held concurrently at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. Zatonskih had shared the lead for the last few rounds with Irina Krush, the top seed. But in Round 5 on Wednesday, Zatonskih beat Iryna Zenyuk, while Krush only drew against Camilla Baginskaite. Zatonskih now leads with 4.5 points, while Krush and Tatev Abrahamyan, who beat Abby Marshall on Wednesday, have 4 each. In the junior championship, Zhao, who ...
Posted by ionadowman
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6/08/2008
17:54:26

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marinvukusic -

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-... but asking on the forum is much more fun. bonsai's responses look pretty good to me, at that.
Cheers,
Ion


———
A Chess Odyssey — One single square can make a big difference in a chess game. It helped me to launch one of my longest combinations against Anatoly Karpov in Caracas 40 years ago. It was a memorable chess tournament for both of us. Karpov arrived in Venezuela as the reigning world junior champion. He played well enough in Caracas to become the world's youngest chess grandmaster at that time, at age 19, and his brilliant career began to take shape. In 1971 in Moscow, he clinched the first major tournament victory, sharing first place with the three-time Soviet champion Leonid Stein at the prestigious Alekhine Memorial tournament. In 1975 he was crowned the world chess champion. This year ...
Posted by marinvukusic
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6/09/2008
04:35:02

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Yeah, but...

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... Wikipedia has really excellent chess articles, much better than anything any of us might write on the forum. So that should be the first resource IMHO.

Of course if the purpose of the topic is fun that forum is better :)
———
Fast Pace Continues at Two U.S. Chess Championships — The top two seeds in the U.S. Women’s Chess Championship could make no headway against each other and drew their Round 3 game on Monday. But their two nearest competitors lost, so Irina Krush and Anna Zatonskih now lead the chess tournament by half a point over Tatev Abrahamyan, Alisa Melekhina (who lost to Abrahamyan on Monday) and Iryna Zenyuk, who lost on Monday to Beatriz Marinello. In the U.S. Junior Chess Championship, which is being held concurrently at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, Warren Harper, the seventh seed, is the surprising leader after three rounds with a perfect score. His play so far has been stellar and on Monday he demolished his ...
Posted by ionadowman
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6/09/2008
12:57:41

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Marin...

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... I certainly have no quarrel with the Wikipedia article(s) in question, having followed up the link you gave earlier. And, aware of these now, one has an easily accessible (and readable) on-line resource for the questions raised here.

But maybe I shouldn't have said "fun" - rather that a discussion of the question is a more ... social way of exploring the topic. Here, it is a more engaging way of studying this kind of endgame.
Cheers,
Ion