Pete's Pathetic Chess: Ridiculous Endgame
Last week, we presented the first part of my intermediate-level blitz chess game, annotated by GM Roman Dzindzichashvili and checked by Stockfish 6, in an effort to learn from my predictably subpar play.
Now, let’s proudly conclude this exercise in mediocrity, and review the remainder of the game.
My hope is that by playing though my game, at least you might learn what not to do.
If you missed the first part of the analysis, go back and take a look.
Let us know what you think of my pathetic chess in the comments below and on Facebook.
The Game: Chess.com blitz, 10 minutes per side.
28...Kh7 29.Qf7+ Rg7 30.Qxh5+ Kg8 31.Rf4 Qxb2 32.Rh4 Qc1+ 33.Kh2 Qxc2
Pete:
All my brilliant play has now paid off. Black was greedy and grabbed my c2 pawn, and now I have a very dangerous attack. Hopefully I can checkmate him, but at the very least I am winning back the rook. No time to actually find the mate; let's just start giving checks.
GM Dzindzi:
If you make terrible positional mistakes in the opening and middlegame, you should at least partially compensate it with more or less accurate calculation. Black had a forced mate: (33...Rxg2+ 34. Kxg2 Rxc2+ 35. Kg3 Qg1+ 36. Kf4 Qh2+ 37. Kg5 Qe5+ 38. Kg4 Rg2+ 39. Kf3 Qg3#)
Stockfish 6:
White mates in six. Wait, do you have any idea how close you just were to losing this game? You were getting mated, and now you can force mate. Not that you saw either of them.
34. Qh8+
Pete:
This is the only check I have. Black will have to move his king to f7, where my rook can also give a check on f4. This sequence completely exhausts my capacity for chess visualization, but it does look like I am about to win that rook on g7...somehow.
GM Dzindzi:
Now Black is getting mated in five moves, but the game goes on for 57 more moves...AMAZING!
Stockfish 6:
White mates in five. Even you won't miss this, right, Pete?
34...Kf7 35.Rf4+ Kg6 36.Rg4+ Kf7 37.Rxg7+ Kf6 38.Qh6+ Ke5 39.Qg5+ Kxe4 40.Qg6+ Kd5
Pete:
Well, I won back the rook with check and his king is on the run. If there was a mate, clearly, I didn’t find it. But the good news is that his king is exposed in the center and I have two heavy pieces to harass him. Obviously, I don’t want to trade queens because I am a pawn down and his king is in the center. I need to keep checking his king and hope something good happens.
GM Dzindzi:
White missed a mate in two: (38. Rg8+ Kf7 39. Qg7#) OK, now the game starts all over after the most ridiculous middlegame, where both sides were four or five moves away from getting mated.
Stockfish 6:
+1.08, depth 25. This game should have been over a long time ago.
41.Qh5+ Kd4 42.Rg4+ Kc3 43.Qa5+ Kb2 44.Qb4+ Kxa2 45.Qa5+ Kb1 46.Rb4+ Kc1 47.Qa1+ Kd2 48.Rb2 a6 49.Qa5+ Ke2 50.Rxc2+ Rxc2 51.Qb6
Pete:
I was able to drive his king to the edge of the board and win his queen for my rook. This endgame should be winning for me now, but I have to be careful. Black still has four pawns vs. my two, and if I can't promote a pawn or win the rook, I have zero idea of how to force a win with a queen against a rook. I'd better go after his pawns while they're still relatively far from promoting.
GM Dzindzi:
There is no need to hunt for Black's pawns. The simple plan h4 and h5 was enough to win three games.
Stockfish 6:
+6.79, depth 25. White is easily winning now. It definitely won't take you 42 more moves to finish the game.
51...Rd2 52.Qxb7 e5 53.Qxa6+ Ke3 54.Qb6+ Ke2 55.Qb5+ Ke3 56.Qb3+ Kd4 57.h4 e4 58.h5 e3 59.Qe6 e2 60.Qxd6+ Kc3 61.Qe5+ Kd3 62.h6 Rd1 63.h7 e1=Q 64.Qxe1 Rxe1 65.h8=Q Re2 66.Qd8+ Ke4 67.Kh3 Re3+ 68.Kh4 Rd3 69.Qe8+ Kd5
Pete:
I had to give up my queen for his e-pawn, but luckily I was able to promote a pawn of my own. I wonder if it was possible to win without letting him queen a pawn. I'll probably have to give up this new queen for his rook, but I have to make sure I can promote my pawn easily before I make the trade. Thank goodness I have this g-pawn, because without it the game would probably be drawn unless Black let me fork him. Time is also a factor now, as I have less than a minute to deliver mate -- and did I mention I am playing this game on my phone, with no mouse? This could be close.
GM Dzindzi:
The rest needs no comments.
Stockfish 6:
Tablebase: 70. g4 -- White wins in 17 moves. Well, at least I don't have to waste electricity calculating this ridiculous endgame.
70.g4 Rd4 71.Kh5 Rf4 72.Qd8+ Ke4 73.g5 Rf5 74.Qe7+ Kf4 75.Kh6 Kg4 76.g6 Rh5+ 77.Kg7 Rg5 78.Qe4+ Kh5 79.Kf6 Rg4 80.Qxg4+ Kxg4 81.g7 Kf4 82.g8=Q Ke4 83.Qg5 Kd3 84.Ke5 Kc4 85.Qf4+ Kc5 86.Qd4+ Kc6 87.Ke6 Kc7 88.Qd6+ Kb7 89.Ke7 Kc8 90.Qd7+ Kb8 91.Kd6 Ka8 92.Kc6 Kb8 93.Qb7# 1-0
Pete:
I knew I would have to give up my second queen and make a third with my lone remaining pawn. I waited until I was absolutely sure I could promote before trading off the last two pieces. My opponent correctly played out the game till the bitter end, because my time was extremely low, and we weren't playing with any increment. I delivered checkmate with ONE SECOND left on my clock.
GM Dzindzi:
(Silently shaking head in disapproval.)
Stockfish 6:
Mate, depth 0. I am so glad that's over. Can you load up some Magnus Carlsen games now so I can feel better about myself?
Want to see more amateur games critiqued by a grandmaster? Enjoy GM Dzindzi's member-game analysis video series, or check back in the coming weeks for more Pete's Pathetic Chess.
What did you think of the game? Let us know in the comments.
