I stumbled upon this beauty while browsing the Current Games, sorted by # of moves.

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=7231921

Obviously I was joking when I said it was urgent but I thought I'd mention it so the developers will have something to work on the next time they're drunk or bored.

310 moves...

Don't you think it is the case to agree for a draw!?

If they play long enough, one of them is bound to end up on the wrong end of some natural disaster.  It's just a matter of time before someone get's the timeout victory.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if he hasn't figured out how to mate his opponent by say, move 200, it's probably not gonna happen.  Yep, I'd definitely take that action.

He'd probably decide to google Bishop+Knight vs King endgames shortly after I stopped taking bets.

On a serious note, this is by far the most difficult of the so called basic mates.  The fact that it's so rare -- something like 1 in every 5000 games if I recall -- just makes it even harder.  The guy's perseverance is admirable and more than a little endearing.

At amateur level, it's not so rare, as there are many otb games where the losing player sacrifices material to end up in this K+B+N endgame, hoping that his opponent won't have time, or won't know how to checkmate.

It took me about 6-8 hours of solid practice to finally master the knight-bishop mate, it's the hardest one I've ever learned. I do it without really thinking now, all that practice made it second nature, but if I remember right, the theory behind it has something to do with triangles...

Still, Gonnosuke is right, if black hasn't figured it out in several hundred moves, he's most likely not going to.

The way I go about it is to remember that the Knight has to move in a W pattern alternating back and forth from the 5th and 7th ranks while the King is on the 6th rank.  The Bishop assists the Knight in keeping the King out of the opposite color corner as the Bishop.  Using the W pattern is how you eventually force the King into a corner that matches your Bishop.  It's definitely a pain.

The white player probably doesn't know that he can claim a draw (or he doesn't know how to claim the draw).

this is an ongoing game. People should not give you advice about it.

I bet you it's a goof.  The white player could claim a draw a long time ago due to 50 move rule as stated already.  I bet repetition came into play as well.

Gonnosuke wrote:

The way I go about it is to remember that the Knight has to move in a W pattern alternating back and forth from the 5th and 7th ranks while the King is on the 6th rank.  The Bishop assists the Knight in keeping the King out of the opposite color corner as the Bishop.  Using the W pattern is how you eventually force the King into a corner that matches your Bishop.  It's definitely a pain.

Useful way to remember it.  I'll make note of it

erook4sure wrote:

...Shouldn't the 50 move rule kick in eventually?  Or does it go by powers of 50 now?

It doesn't kick in automatically, one of the players has to claim the draw.  I suspect that the white player hasn't noticed that the Offer Draw button has changed to Claim Draw.

A general question, considering online play can a player refer to books, as in correspondance play, for instance, to find the correct method for mating? Or his the player on his own as in OTB?

K+B+N v K - 2 days reading up BCE, 2 days practice with tablebases. Done.

mnag wrote:

A general question, considering online play can a player refer to books, as in correspondance play, for instance, to find the correct method for mating? Or his the player on his own as in OTB?

 yes, as long as player is not analysing the *specific* fen.

Thanks!

Like normanjeanyates said, yes, you are allowed to refer to books or databases or look up a specific mating technique via Google.  You just can't analyze a specific position with a chess engine like you can in International Correspondence Chess Federation games.

wow, I admire their fighting spirit.

that was ridiculous, i clicked through all the moves and im pretty sure that game will never end.