Solutions to "Solve This"

Fox in the Chicken Coop

White plans to march the king over to the a-file, capture Black's pawn and promote the a-pawn. White will abandon the g-pawn to keep the black king occupied long enough for the white king to capture the black pawn and then take up position on the b-file--shouldering to protect the a-pawn's advance.

If Black runs to the queenside to capture the white pawn, then White will push the g-pawn and win the pawn race.

When I played this position against Hiracs 10 this morning, it became necessary to push my g-pawn on move 11 because the black king confined my king to the a-file.

Stripes,J - Hiarcs 10
25.10.2007

1.Kh2 Ke5 2.Kh3 Kf5 3.Kh4 Kg6 4.Kg4 Kf6 5.Kf4 Kf7 6.Ke5 Kg6 7.Kd5 Kf6 8.Kc5 Ke5 9.Kb5 Kd4 10.Kxa5 Kc5 11.g4 Kd4 12.Kb6 Kd5 13.a5 Kd6 14.a6 Ke5 15.a7 Kf4 16.a8Q Kxg4 17.Kc5 Kf4 18.Kd4 Kf5 19.Qc6 Kf4 20.Qf6+ Kg3 21.Ke3 Kg2 22.Qg5+ Kf1 23.Qg8 Ke1 24.Qg1# 1–0

Fighting the Pig

27.Bg5! would have been far better than my 27.Be7

This game marked an important moment of success for a promising young player from Mead High School--I coach their team. I mentioned this game to a news reporter during a chess exhibition that he and other youth players put on, and the reporter confused two Mead players in the published article.

Taylor Coles, my opponent, played a nice game. Although he lost a piece when he overlooked some tactics, he won it back when I missed something later. He then outplayed me in a rook and pawn endgame.


Shirov Test

Topalov,V (2740) - Shirov,A (2710) [D85]
Linares (10), 04.03.1998

47...Bh3!! this sacrifice mobilizes Black's king and creates a new passed pawn [ 47...a3 is selected by most engines; 47...Be4 is selected by Hiracs after longer analysis] 48.gxh3 [ In Informant, Shirov gave the line 48.Kf2 Kf5 49.Kf3 Bxg2+ 50.Kxg2 Ke4–+] 48...Kf5 49.Kf2 Ke4 50.Bxf6 d4 51.Be7 Kd3 52.Bc5 Kc4 53.Be7 Kb3 the white bishop is powerless to stop both the a-pawn and the d-pawn 0–1