2018 Super-dog Tournament: News and Updates

Here is the status of the Super-dog tournament. I'll try to start visiting this club more often, and post updates to the tournament here. As usual please leave a message if I missed anything.

Who will be the first to make it to the semifinals? I think its Martin0 (lowers self-esteem).

I won against josephyossi just yesterday, on time.

I got a really unlucky draw when I went up against evert.

how unlucky?

evert is among the strongest players

If only @hitthepin had not accepted the draw though. A rook endgame being a pawn up and that extra pawn was a protected passed pawn.

I think it was a winning position, but even if he would fail to win and get a draw I would have loved to see an attempt.

Position when draw was agreed (white to move):

Position after Rxf8+ Kg7 hxg4 Rxg4

I don't think black can hold this endgame, but most importantly I think white can not lose this and can play on for 2 results (win or draw).

Yeah, definitely should have played on in hindsight.

Martin0 won over aidenB1 today.

When will I play against THE TOMATO?

Yes, I resigned against Martin0

I didn't realize that HorusTheThird had won over josephyossi (It looks like it was after a time warning, but the position was really interesting).

josephyossi's last words: "ugh, I will just wait till the next superbulldog"

First, I want to say thanks to JohnHS for moderating that game. So cool!

And congratulations for the win to HorusTheThird!

I'll post an update to the bracket tomorrow, and I'll start the game for "Horus vs. Tomato" either tomorrow or on Tuesday.

I'll check the game tomorrow. Sorry you were placed against the world champ, but brackets work better that way. It helps ensure that the game for the final two represents the two best players. (instead of placing two known good players against each other in the first round).

I'll update the bracket with (post above) and your game tomorrow.

Tugwash has beaten evert.

Thanks hitthepin and others for keeping us updated about the tournament. Here is the bracket with updates. (Some dates may not be exact, but should be close). Please leave comments if anything isn't right, or if I missed any updates. Good work to all players!

Congratulations to @Martin0 and @captaintugwash for advancing to the Semi-finals!!!

I think I'll be playing junebug. Tough semi, but I'm going to put my neck out and predict a blockbuster tug-martin final. I remain unbeaten in forum games here, and I don't recall Martin losing yet... so it'll be a big game if it happens.

I really don't know if Martin is better than me, I suspect he might be.

As for hitthepin's drawn endgame vs evert... it's not clear to me how white can actually crack this, but Martin does make one very important point... white can't really lose this endgame. It's definitely worth playing out to see how it develops. Black must play more accurately than white, and it's rarely fun playing to hold the draw. I'm sure evert was delighted to draw that off in that position.

Honestly though, I would say with perfect play from both, it's probably drawn.

[flawed analysis]

1. Ri8 Rg2+

2. Kb3 Ri2

3. Ri6...

here black is pretty much forced to wait, but rather than kill a move with the rook, might as well improve the position.

3... c6

So... if white captures the pawn, black grabs the i3 pawn and may be able to hold.

4. j5 Rj2

5. i4 Rj4

Ok I think black can avoid losing the h6 pawn for nothing, while stopping the j-pawn from running away, so it's not a clear win for white. White will not be able to force promotion of a single pawn with just the rook, and if the king takes a walk to add support, then black has counterplay on the kingside. The white king is pretty much obliged to stay where it is.

This may well be a reasonably simple draw for black. Once we've negotiated the initial poisitonal phase after the exchanges, it quickly settles down into a deadlock.

The diagram below is similar (8x8 board instead of 10x8), but just to show one idea of how white can try to win. Far from easy.

Yeah black needs to play very accurately, especially on the kingside.

note - squares based on the 8x8 board above.

8... a5 isn't good, this square is better for the king. At any point, white can trade h-pawn for i-pawn, get the rook in front of the j-pawn, and march it to near promotion. Black is powerless to stop this much, and so the king cannot afford to be vulnerable to a check from the rook along the 8th rank.

That said, I can't find a better move. It does appear white can win by zugzwang... black cannot protect the c-pawn and stop white playing Ka5, because black has no means of wasting a tempo. If the c-pawn is unprotected, white can get two pawns in exchange for one.

Ok c6 was premature, we have f5 first. This takes the f-pawn off the 6th rank, which means c6 is less vulnerable.

The engine gives white a 3-point lead based on this position on an 8x8 (ignoring Rxd5 which isn't available), but it's not a clear path to victory after 3... f5.