knight + bishop

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wbartier
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:30 am
Location: Oostende, Belgium

knight + bishop

Post by wbartier » Fri Aug 12, 2005 2:27 pm

Hello,

I'm playing a game: I have a king + bishop + knight and my oponent king. In oficial games it has to be finished after 50 moves, or it's a draw. In net-chess I don't know? My oponent inmidiatly asked a draw, which I ignored. I don't know the theory of it and my oponent also. Now 19 moves furter I think I will need more 18 moves to win the game. 8) I didn' t us any book or computer: it is a nice training to learn it.

See Ye
Wieland

angelofthenight
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2003 12:50 pm

Post by angelofthenight » Fri Aug 12, 2005 8:12 pm

with the best move..........B+N wins !!!! but you're miss only one move and you need more 50 moves.......In the litterature of chess, some GrandMaster miss wins in this ending........Lilienthal 2 times !!!!

So good luck !

wbartier
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:30 am
Location: Oostende, Belgium

Post by wbartier » Thu Aug 18, 2005 2:29 pm

Hello,

My opponent took the last piece at move 58; and if my caunting is correct, it will be finished at move 87. Only 29 moves for someone who doesn't know the theory is pretty good. But it is a good lesson, I can recomand it to everyone.

See Ye
Wieland

jkavanagh
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Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Post by jkavanagh » Wed Oct 05, 2005 2:43 pm

We used to use this (BNK vs K) as an exercise in my chess club. It's so hard. Good luck.

wbartier
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2004 8:30 am
Location: Oostende, Belgium

Post by wbartier » Thu Oct 06, 2005 11:32 am

Hello,

I didn't had this exercise. But I won. I bought a book about endgames, and should learn about. It is more dificult in an official game then computerchess: more stress and less time. Now, in our club they do this exercise for the kids. I should go myself. :(

See Ye
Wieland

gmiller
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Post by gmiller » Thu Oct 06, 2005 10:01 pm

I learned this a couple of years back. In blitz games, if my opponent won't resign, I frequently mate with knight and bishop. On a real board I can do it using about 20-30 seconds on my clock. It actually takes more time off my clock doing it against a computer because I don't get to think on my opponent's time.

It's actually easier against the computer too, because they normally make predictable moves. Also the hardest part about the exercise is getting the position below:

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Once you're in that position, it's mate in 22 IIRC, but there are several variations (depending on black's moves) which mate sooner. Practice mating from this positon with different chess engines (that don't have tablebases). To learn this mate, you have to be able to play perfectly from this position in every variation, because one mistake will let your opponent out and odds are it won't be possible to mate in less that 50 moves.

Here's a typical mate from the postion above:
1. Bf5 Kf8 2. Bh7 Ke8 3. Ne5 Kd8 4. Ke6 Kc7 5. Nd7 Kb7 6. Bd3 Kc6
7. Be2 Kc7 8. Bf3 Kd8 9. Kd6 Ke8 10. Bh5+ Kd8 11. Nc5 Kc8
12. Bg6 Kd8 13. Nb7+ Kc8 14. Kc6 Kb8 15. Kb6 Kc8 16. Bf5+ Kb8
17. Nc5 Ka8 18. Bh3 Kb8 19. Na6+ Ka8 20. Bg2#

If you try starting from some arbitrary position against a computer, you'll find it's really easy to reach the position above. That's because the computer is trying to stretch the game out for the most number of moves, but that line is not always the hardest line for a human to win.

I don't think it's a very useful exercise to learn, you're probably better off studying tactics or other engames. But it's pretty fun to taunt your opponent with it :twisted: Often my opponent will offer a draw 10-20 moves into it, and I always respond with "Mate in xx" even if I don't know the exact number of moves left. I wouldn't dream of doing that in a USCF rated event, I just do it in on-line blitz and pre-tournament blitz.

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