Take Backs

In casual play with friends, it seems sometimes that every game is a training game. My opponent will hang a knight and I'll say, "you don't want to do that, try something else instead." Of course, I get as many take backs as I give.

Playing against the computer in the privacy of my office, no one knows how often this happens, but it does. Indeed, the coaching feature of Fritz offers many take backs after certain inaccuracies.

I spent forty minutes on this morning's "Tactics Training Plus," getting a good start on resolution #3. Problem 364 from Reinfeld, 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations required less than five minutes to elicit a resignation from the Silicon Beast, so I moved on to Problem 365. The tactic was easy to spot.

White to move


1.Rh8+ Kxh8 2.e6+ Qg7 3.Bxg7+ Kxg7 and that's where Reinfeld's solution ends. He notes that Black has only two pieces for the queen.

I then continued:
4.Qxd5 Nh7 5.Qd7+ Kh6

White to move


I won with 6.e4 Ng5 7.exf5 gxf5 8Rxf5 Rc1+ 9.Kg2 Ne4 10.Rf6+! Nxf6 Qd2+ and Fritz 9 gave up.

But that sequence was after a take back.

I first tried 6.Qxa7 Bb5

White to move


From here, I erred more. After a couple of tries, I went back to the position after 5...Kh6 and played 6.e4.

After winning that I returned to this position, which is still winning as long as White avoids Black's checkmate threats. I played several lines. In the end I reached a drawn rook vs. bishop endgame and called it a day.

The play of rook vs. bishop with pawns still on the board is worthy of further study and practice in its own right. From the next diagram position, for example, White seems to be winning. But, how does a human win this against the computer?

White to move


Developing the skill to win such positions against any level of competition is a benefit of computer training with take backs. Today, I failed to win from this position, so I will try again.