Congratulations on fairing so well. I would have likely tucked my tail and ran/gotten nervous and left something hanging very early on.
I don't mean this as criticism of any way, but I think I'm missing something obvious. On move 25, why did white leave his queen hanging on the e file and play Rxc3 instead? Wouldn't this give white a queen and two rooks in the end game versus blacks two rooks and the knight?
Congratulations on fairing so well. I would have likely tucked my tail and ran/gotten nervous and left something hanging very early on.
I don't mean this as criticism of any way, but I think I'm missing something obvious. On move 25, why did white leave his queen hanging on the e file and play Rxc3 instead? Wouldn't this give white a queen and two rooks in the end game versus blacks two rooks and the knight?
oliebol is correct, I played QxB under the assumption he had blundered away a piece, but after RxKn I realized if I took his queen with my rook, i would lose 2 rooks at the gain of one queen and one pawn.
Since of course if QxQ then the knight can fork the king and queen and white is down an entire minor piece, the way he played it he lost no points during the exchange.
24. ... Rxe3 25. Bxb8 Ne2+ 26. Kh1 Rxc1 27. Rxc1 Re8 now you are attacking both his pieces and he will lose a whole piece.
This was a very tactical game, I think you both played a lot of nice moves in positions with a lot of combinations.
Interesting combination loomis though I doubt I would have seen it in game, my ideal plan was to sac a rook to lure his queen to where she would be forked on the king, but the opportunity never came up in the exchange.
Thanks for the comment.
Oh you're kidding me!? You played great... but you know why your opponent took the draw? ... CUZ YOU WERE WINNING. You so chickened out! LOL. I've done it too... you see that scary high rating and take the draw and call it a success! Well, you should have played on IMHO... you had the opportunity to knock off someone 400pts over you, and you definitely had him sweating... you were the tactically sharper player, that N fork threat was sweet.
Great job... but next time -- go for it.
*edit* ohhh... and I just went thru Loomis' note...yeah, that N fork isn't so sweet considering you had better! Rxe3 there was decisive I think.
I had never even considered that line, and yes I am aware that I had a slight advantage, but I am at my weakest in the endgame and was afraid to let a sure draw (I could have drawn by repetition as well) slip into a loss.
I had never even considered that line, and yes I am aware that I had a slight advantage, but I am at my weakest in the endgame and was afraid to let a sure draw (I could have drawn by repetition as well) slip into a loss.
Hey... not to be too hard on you... I've definitely happily taken draws against higher rated opponents when if they'd been lower rated, or I had more guts, I'd have played on. Still -- how are you gonna improve that endgame weakness if not by playing out exactly this kind of endgame tester (for it surely is that!)
BTW. Loomis' combination is fiendish... he stops it at Re8, saying you win a full piece, but the tactics continue another ply... and I think you only win the exchange... (that's enough for the win) -- its quite nice how White has no good answer for Re8.
Re1? Loses the exchange to Ng3+!
Rc2?? Loses to Nd4! adding the threat of Re1# to the mix.
his blunder was that bc4 on move 10. that bishop was hung -- dxc4 and the match would have been over. ah well, these things are easy to miss during real games. tactics trainer is your friend!
dxc4 loses my queen
his blunder was that bc4 on move 10. that bishop was hung -- dxc4 and the match would have been over. ah well, these things are easy to miss during real games. tactics trainer is your friend!
Good Lord, the incredible vanishing pawn-pin... so it's true then, what I heard, bishops can move backwards?
It's like sleight of hand, when a magician forces a card on you... He played Bc4 so the pawn must be pinned, right?
I don't blame you for taking the draw there vs your higher rated opponent if you don't know that ending. I'm looking at it without a board, so don't take any of this as gospel, but I think it is a bit deceptive and more difficult to win than the double Plus-pawn majorities appear at first.
A couple factors involved. Note that BL can Never win the a-pawn if WT elects to defend it. In that case, almost impossible for the two BL pawns ever push one past to Queen vs the a-pawn with doubled Rooks defending there, one of which will cut the BL king off from the Q-side so it is not a factor.The only way I can see that happening would be if BL were able to advance his pawns to contact with the WT one, then sac his b-pawn to axb in order to try to sneak his other pawn there past by putting WT's pawn in the way of the Rooks if they were doubled on the second rank for EG.
But it is WT who will decide if he wishes to even try holding the a-pawn permanently or just long enough to forcibly win the two BL pawns there.
So any win that comes is going to come from the King-side pawns or their influence. And it would be very difficult to force one of those past as well, unless it is possible to jeopardize the WT king which has little shelter (and less as the pawns advance), or bare that king to where Queen checks and fork come into play. In which case BL probably hopes the Q-side pawns remain as fork targets. But difficult as that sounds, it will be more so when considering the Rook checks that will open up as the pawns try to advance. And really, it may be touchy for both sides with WT trying to avoid Q forks and BL needing to make sure he does not let the Rooks Mate him!
It's be great to hear how it goes if anyone plays it out or computes it.
Hey that Was strange with the Bc4 bit~!! 
But congrats for scoring on an opp so higher rated, Kupov... Elo theory says you were "Supposed" to Lose ! 
Good one.
A lot of that ran through my head before I decided to force the draw.
Though your analysis was quite a bit more in depth :P
I thought it probably did, judging by your earlier remarks. And not knowing if your opp DID Know the ending beforehand or not must be a big factor. I've seen a lot of endings go my way where I barely had a Draw but knew just how to do it. But someone didnt know just how to press it and overstepped to lose. (Actually that happened in ALL my postal games where someone turned down a draw offer. And I was Not an exceptional endgame player for Expert/Master-class. So it is Not uncommon in correspondence anyway. 
)
I played this game today as part of a tournament, I was originally pretty intimidated by his 1720 rating (nearly 400 pts above my own) but I managed to get a 1 pt lead in the endgame with 2 pawns up and a queen vs 2 rooks.
I was afraid he would still beat me though so I decided to force a draw by repetition/offer a draw.
Here is the game, any constructive criticism is always welcome thanks in advance.
In my opinion, after a light analisys, black position it´s winner. You have queen and two more pawns with possibilities!
I played this game today as part of a tournament, I was originally pretty intimidated by his 1720 rating (nearly 400 pts above my own) but I managed to get a 1 pt lead in the endgame with 2 pawns up and a queen vs 2 rooks.
I was afraid he would still beat me though so I decided to force a draw by repetition/offer a draw.
Here is the game, any constructive criticism is always welcome thanks in advance.
http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=13247219