028. Two Lines of a Rook Endgame

White: J. De Waard - 1st North Sea Team Tournament, 1998

One of my mates once told me: “if you want to play the Four Knights as Black, play the Petroff”. That's because, as I mentioned here, 3 Nc3 is a common reply to 2...Nf6. Whereas it isn't so much against 2...Nc6. Checking my own OTB games, going back to 1989, I see I've only faced 3 Nc3 six times. In correspondence chess, it's even more of a rarity: just three games in all competitions. Those nine in total continued with 4 d4 (four times), 4 g3 (thrice), and 4 Bb5 (twice). I won just once.

Hmmm. It hardly seems worthwhile studying an opening that you only face once every five years. But still... only one win as Black. How'd you like them apples?! Not very much, in truth. Maybe I should do something about that.

On the other hand, my one win was quite nice. Glek's variation (4 g3) led eventually to a double rook endgame where I held the initiative, and thence to a single rook endgame. The final result turned, after 45...Rb1, on two move 49 positions, both of which I assessed as won for Black:



a) 46 Ra2 Rxb3 47 Ra6+ Ke7 48 Rxh6 Rxd3 49 Kxf5 Rd4;
b) 46 Re2 Rxb3 47 Re5 Rxd3 48 Rxf5+ Ke6 49 Rxc5 Rxh3.

Black ends up with rook and two vs. rook and one in each case. And the second line (with split passed pawns) is indeed won, as the Lomonosov databases now confirm. But the first one (with connected passed pawns) isn't: 50 Ke5 Rxc4 51 Rb6 or 50...Kd7 51 h4 Rxc4 52 Kd5 and draws (Lomonosov again).

Guess it was lucky my opponent went for line ‘b’.

027. Emotions in Correspondence Chess

White: A. Richards - BCCA DJKO 33/1, 1998

The main point of Georgi Popov's 3...a5!? defence to the Ruy Lopez is to follow up with 4...Na7 5 Bc4 b5, gaining the usual queenside space for Black while driving the Lopez bishop away – and trapping it should it drop back to b3. White's 4 d3 in the game below is therefore quite obliging as it blocks a retreat to the centre. Thus 4...Na7 5 Bc4 b5 (etc) and the bishop is lost.

My opponent in the game below wasn't bothered by that, responding 6 Bxf7+ Kxf7 7 Nxe5+ Ke7 and then 8 Nf7!?.



I don't recall ever seeing a similar idea before: White gives up two pieces on f7 in order to win an unprotected rook on a8 with queen checks. Later on he surprised me again by putting his other bishop en prise to a pawn (21 Bd6).

Going over the game with Houdini now, it seems neither of these surprises is particularly good for White. The engine prefers the bishop and knight to White's rook and two pawns in the first instance. In the second, it suggests that Black simply takes the piece: 21...cxd6 22 Nxd6 Nf4 and then answer 23 Nxc8 with 23...Nxg2!, which looks very strong. Whether I actually considered that, I'm unable to tell, since the game is somehow missing from my cardboard Postal Games 1996-98 folder.

What I do remember is feeling unsettled, unable wholly to trust my assessments throughout the game. In the end, I went completely wrong (31...Ng7?) and lost.

It might be assumed that emotions don't much matter in correspondence chess. On receiving a shock, for instance, you don't have to find a reply right there with the clock ticking. You can let your feelings subside before studying a position... calmly, rationally... two or three days later maybe. But it can be difficult all the same. An underlying sense of unease, that you're not in control, that things are going wrong, can pervade a whole game, and is no less disturbing for being long drawn out.

Or so I have found anyway. Your mileage may vary.