White to move
White to move
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| From Stripes -- Brownlee, Spokane 2001 |
How would you play?
Rhoda Bowles
1 day ago
21 December 2025
Two Exercises
This position, which arose in my tactics training session this morning reminded me of a position that I had in a tournament game 25 years ago.
17 December 2025
Tested
Sometimes you must test your opponent's ability to demonstrate what should be elementary skills, especially when time is running short. In the penultimate round of a local tournament a few years ago, the top two players--both experts--were running short of time. The one defending sacked his rook to test his opponent's ability to deliver checkmate with knight and bishop. The gamble worked and they drew. My online opponents often test my ability to deliver checkmate with a queen and king against a lone king in under 15 seconds. I usually pass this test.
This morning, my opponent tested my ability to force checkmate with two bishops in under a minute. I had 59 seconds left when my last pawn was captured and 51 when I finished eliminating his pawns. When checkmate was delivered, 29 seconds remained on my clock. I made 24 moves in 22 seconds to finish the game.
After 69 moves and just over 18 minutes of play in the game 10, we had the following position. My opponent had 53 seconds left to 60 for me.
70.Nd6 Bxd6
Stockfish would pushed the pawn.
71.Kxd4 Bc5+ 72.Kc4 Bf7+ 73.Kc3 Ka5
I hasten to eliminate White's pawns so that I can begin the mating sequence.
74.Kd3 Kxa4 75.b6 Bxb6 76.Ke4
76...Kb4
76...Kb5 leads to mate one move faster.
77.Ke5 Bc4 78.Ke4 Bc5
78...Kc3 is faster
79.Ke5 Kc3 80.Ke4
80...Bd4
I teach students to place a protected bishop next to the king because it is easy to see and forces the defending king closer to the edge.
However, 80...Bd6 leads to checkmate two moves faster, and if White does not move towards the edge, 81.Ke3, then 81...Bd3 is the same sort of move.
88...Kf2 89.Kh5 Kf3 90.Kh4
Those learning how to finish this checkmate should observe the simple way that my bishops drive the king to the corner.
90...Bg6 91.Kh3 Bg5 92.Kh2 Kf2
My king must end up here.
93.Kh3 Bf5+ 94.Kh2 Bf4+ 95.Kh1 Be4#
As is happens, one of my students is finishing the Bishop Award and has this checkmate and two pawn endings remaining.
This morning, my opponent tested my ability to force checkmate with two bishops in under a minute. I had 59 seconds left when my last pawn was captured and 51 when I finished eliminating his pawns. When checkmate was delivered, 29 seconds remained on my clock. I made 24 moves in 22 seconds to finish the game.
After 69 moves and just over 18 minutes of play in the game 10, we had the following position. My opponent had 53 seconds left to 60 for me.
White to move
Stockfish would pushed the pawn.
71.Kxd4 Bc5+ 72.Kc4 Bf7+ 73.Kc3 Ka5
I hasten to eliminate White's pawns so that I can begin the mating sequence.
74.Kd3 Kxa4 75.b6 Bxb6 76.Ke4
Black to move
76...Kb5 leads to mate one move faster.
77.Ke5 Bc4 78.Ke4 Bc5
78...Kc3 is faster
79.Ke5 Kc3 80.Ke4
Black to move
I teach students to place a protected bishop next to the king because it is easy to see and forces the defending king closer to the edge.
However, 80...Bd6 leads to checkmate two moves faster, and if White does not move towards the edge, 81.Ke3, then 81...Bd3 is the same sort of move.
81.Kf3 Kd3 82.Kf4 Bd5
Again, there is a move that leads to checkmate two moves faster, 82...Be6
83.Kf5 Ke3 84.Kg4 Be4 85.Kg5 Be5
Time remaining: 0:35 -- 0:42
86.Kg4 Bf4
The recurring pattern that forces the king to the edge.
87.Kh5 Bf5
87...Kf3 is easy to find and two moves faster.
88.Kh4
The rest of my play was perfect and used 12 seconds.
Again, there is a move that leads to checkmate two moves faster, 82...Be6
83.Kf5 Ke3 84.Kg4 Be4 85.Kg5 Be5
Time remaining: 0:35 -- 0:42
86.Kg4 Bf4
The recurring pattern that forces the king to the edge.
87.Kh5 Bf5
87...Kf3 is easy to find and two moves faster.
88.Kh4
The rest of my play was perfect and used 12 seconds.
Black to move
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Those learning how to finish this checkmate should observe the simple way that my bishops drive the king to the corner.
90...Bg6 91.Kh3 Bg5 92.Kh2 Kf2
My king must end up here.
93.Kh3 Bf5+ 94.Kh2 Bf4+ 95.Kh1 Be4#
As is happens, one of my students is finishing the Bishop Award and has this checkmate and two pawn endings remaining.
16 December 2025
Difficult Breakthrough
I had Black and the move in this position, found my way to a sacrificial breakthrough that led to a win, and ended feeling good about my skill. Stockfish was critical and brought me back down. My breakthrough idea was flawed and only my opponent's defensive errors gave me the win.
30...Kf8 31.Kh2 Ke8 32.Kh3 Rc1 33.Kg3
My thinking may have been that my centralized king's ability to help my center pawns made them more powerful than White's queenside pawns.
37...Rg4+ 38.Kh3??
This unfortunate error restored my advantage. Had White's king stayed near my central pawns, soon to advance, they would have been stopped.
39...Re4?
39...d4 retains the advantage
43.Rd3 e5 44.Kg3 e4 45.Rd1 Ke6
46.Kf4??
The final error.
46.b4 Ke5 47.Kf2 e3+ 48.Kf3=
46...e3-+ 47.Ke4 e2 48.Re1 d3 49.Kf3 Re5 White resigned 0-1
Running the engine and playing its favored moves seemed to involve a great deal of shuffling and often unforced weakening moves by White.
I was intrigued.
The key idea that I missed was a pawn sacrifice to open the a-file with the idea of getting both Black rooks on the first rank. Black then aims to force the exchange of rooks.
Having learning the correct idea from computer analysis, I began playing and replaying the position against the machine. I spent one evening playing more than a dozen games against Stockfish on my iPad. White's resources were revealed in games ending in a draw and even one loss. I won a few, too.
Over the course of several weeks, I analyzed these games on my computer. Then, while writing this article, I played Stockfish 17 on my computer from the position the top of this post.
30...Rc1 31.Kg3 Kf8 32.Kf2
The beginning of a maneuver that the iPad version of Stockfish never found.
32...Ke8 33.Ke3 b4
The correct idea, but here, perhaps, timing is off. Possibly better is 33...Rg1 34.Rf2 Rh1 35.g3 Rg1 36.Rf3 b4
34.axb4
34...Rh1
My first effort continued 34...Rc7 35.Kd2 Rg1 36.Kc2 Rxg2+ 37.Kb3 and I did not find the only move that holds an advantage: 37...Rg1
35.g3 Rc7
Better than 35...Rc8 due to White's attack on the f-pawn.
36.Kd2 Ra7
36...Rh2+ is better 37.Kc1 Ra7
37.Kc2 Raa1 38.b5 Rhf1
The f-pawn must be protected so that the king can get in front of White's passed pawn.
39.Re3
Perhaps 39.Rf6 was a better choice.
39...Kd7 40.Bb4 Rf2+ 41.Kb3 Kc7 42.Bc5 Rb1 43.Ba3 Kb6 44.Rc3 Kxb5 45.Rc5+ Kb6 46.Kb4
Another slight inaccuracy, according to Stockfish when it has more time to analyze this position than it did to play it.
46.Ka4 is more stubborn.
46...Rbxb2+
In this position, my original exchange sacrifice is now correct.
47.Bxb2 Rxb2 48.Ka4
48.Kc3 drops the g3 pawn, but it seems to me that the d-pawn is more important and it soon falls.
49.Rb5+ Kc6 50.Rc5+ Kd7 51.Ra5 Rxd4+ 52.Kb5 Rc4
53.Ra7+ Rc7 54.Ra3 Rc2 55.Ra7+ Ke8 56.Ra8+ Ke7 57.Ra7+ Kf8 58.Ra8+ Kg7 59.Ra3
Black to move
My moves so far have been fine, although lots of deep computer analysis and dozens of games played against Stockfish on my iPad have convinced me that it would have been more accurate to place my rook on the first rank before moving my king towards the queenside.
33...Rd1
This move does not yet squander the advantage, but would have been an appropriate moment for the correct sacrifice.
34.Rf4 Rd3+ 35.Rf3
Black to move
This move does not yet squander the advantage, but would have been an appropriate moment for the correct sacrifice.
34.Rf4 Rd3+ 35.Rf3
Black to move
35...Rdxd4??
This sacrifice, which I was proud of during the game, was a blunder that should have led to a draw.
36.Bxd4 Rxd4 37.Rb3
This sacrifice, which I was proud of during the game, was a blunder that should have led to a draw.
36.Bxd4 Rxd4 37.Rb3
Black to move
37...Rg4+ 38.Kh3??
This unfortunate error restored my advantage. Had White's king stayed near my central pawns, soon to advance, they would have been stopped.
39...Re4?
39...d4 retains the advantage
39.Rxb5 Rxe5 40.Rb8+ Ke7 41.a4 d4 42.Rb3 Rd5
Placing my rook behind a passed pawn.
Placing my rook behind a passed pawn.
White to move
43.Rd3 e5 44.Kg3 e4 45.Rd1 Ke6
White to move
The final error.
46.b4 Ke5 47.Kf2 e3+ 48.Kf3=
46...e3-+ 47.Ke4 e2 48.Re1 d3 49.Kf3 Re5 White resigned 0-1
Computer Training
After running quick analysis using the website's analysis feature, I realized my play was not as brilliant as it had felt while playing. But, it was not clear to me what I should have played to convert the clear advantage Stockfish found in the position.Running the engine and playing its favored moves seemed to involve a great deal of shuffling and often unforced weakening moves by White.
I was intrigued.
The key idea that I missed was a pawn sacrifice to open the a-file with the idea of getting both Black rooks on the first rank. Black then aims to force the exchange of rooks.
Having learning the correct idea from computer analysis, I began playing and replaying the position against the machine. I spent one evening playing more than a dozen games against Stockfish on my iPad. White's resources were revealed in games ending in a draw and even one loss. I won a few, too.
Over the course of several weeks, I analyzed these games on my computer. Then, while writing this article, I played Stockfish 17 on my computer from the position the top of this post.
30...Rc1 31.Kg3 Kf8 32.Kf2
The beginning of a maneuver that the iPad version of Stockfish never found.
32...Ke8 33.Ke3 b4
The correct idea, but here, perhaps, timing is off. Possibly better is 33...Rg1 34.Rf2 Rh1 35.g3 Rg1 36.Rf3 b4
34.axb4
Black to move
My first effort continued 34...Rc7 35.Kd2 Rg1 36.Kc2 Rxg2+ 37.Kb3 and I did not find the only move that holds an advantage: 37...Rg1
35.g3 Rc7
Better than 35...Rc8 due to White's attack on the f-pawn.
36.Kd2 Ra7
36...Rh2+ is better 37.Kc1 Ra7
37.Kc2 Raa1 38.b5 Rhf1
The f-pawn must be protected so that the king can get in front of White's passed pawn.
White to move
Perhaps 39.Rf6 was a better choice.
39...Kd7 40.Bb4 Rf2+ 41.Kb3 Kc7 42.Bc5 Rb1 43.Ba3 Kb6 44.Rc3 Kxb5 45.Rc5+ Kb6 46.Kb4
Another slight inaccuracy, according to Stockfish when it has more time to analyze this position than it did to play it.
46.Ka4 is more stubborn.
Black to move
In this position, my original exchange sacrifice is now correct.
47.Bxb2 Rxb2 48.Ka4
48.Kc3 drops the g3 pawn, but it seems to me that the d-pawn is more important and it soon falls.
49.Rb5+ Kc6 50.Rc5+ Kd7 51.Ra5 Rxd4+ 52.Kb5 Rc4
White to move
Black to move
I stopped playing against Stockfish here because I had places that I needed to go, but I was confident that after 59...Re2 I would have the sort of rook ending that I can win against the engine. Maybe I will continue at a later datew.
13 December 2025
Forcing Moves
From this morning’s tactics session while I drank my coffee.
I spent a little over four minutes working out the full sequence.
12 December 2025
A Pattern
The relationship between two puzzles on chess.com surprised me Wednesday morning and I made it that afternoon's lesson for my beginning students. Sometimes I use this feature of the website and iOS app regularly. During the first fifteen years that I was a member of chess.com, I only did puzzles occasionally, completing fewer than 5000. That changed in December 2022 and I've completed nearly 17,000 in the past three years.
Wednesday, I completed 41, failing 13. One that came up early in the session took me five seconds. This mating sequence crops up most days, as it did again this morning. It also appeared in the last puzzle Wednesday morning, but with a twist that took me nearly a minute to recognize that it was essentially the same.
Because the website only shows me the past 30, I was not able to put the early position in front of my students. Instead, I found a game played by Adolf Anderssen in 1861 that finished with the same idea.
The first student to offer a solution suggested 21.Bxg7, but after 21...Nxf2+ 22.Rxf2 Kxg7, it was clear that White was worse. We did not look at 22.Kg1 Nh3+ 23.Kh1, but Black has two good choices that neutralize the attack.
The students then saw the correct 21.Rxg7+, but I had to show them the key idea after 21...Kh8 22.Rg8+! and mate follows when the other rook comes to the g-file.
This morning's version took me six seconds.
20...Rxg2+ 21.Kh1 Rg1+ 22.Kxg1 Rg8+ 23.Bg5
Sometimes, in the puzzles that chess.com feeds me, there are several pieces that can step into the line of fire and increase the move count.
23...Rxg5#
Seeing the same pattern in this next exercise took longer and brought a pleasant surprise. My young students did not see it until I showed it to them.
30...Rxg2+ was obvious, but I did not play it until I saw the follow up after 50 seconds. 31.Kh1 Rg1+ 32.Kxg1 (32.Kh2 also leads to mate on the move) 32...Qxg3#.
Chess patterns are familiar ideas in slightly different positions. Good puzzle books and sometimes chess websites help aspiring players learn and train recognition of these ideas. The first two volumes of The Manual of Chess Combinations by Sergey Ivashchenko are particularly good in this respect.
Wednesday, I completed 41, failing 13. One that came up early in the session took me five seconds. This mating sequence crops up most days, as it did again this morning. It also appeared in the last puzzle Wednesday morning, but with a twist that took me nearly a minute to recognize that it was essentially the same.
Because the website only shows me the past 30, I was not able to put the early position in front of my students. Instead, I found a game played by Adolf Anderssen in 1861 that finished with the same idea.
White to move
The students then saw the correct 21.Rxg7+, but I had to show them the key idea after 21...Kh8 22.Rg8+! and mate follows when the other rook comes to the g-file.
This morning's version took me six seconds.
Black to move
Sometimes, in the puzzles that chess.com feeds me, there are several pieces that can step into the line of fire and increase the move count.
23...Rxg5#
Seeing the same pattern in this next exercise took longer and brought a pleasant surprise. My young students did not see it until I showed it to them.
Black to move
Chess patterns are familiar ideas in slightly different positions. Good puzzle books and sometimes chess websites help aspiring players learn and train recognition of these ideas. The first two volumes of The Manual of Chess Combinations by Sergey Ivashchenko are particularly good in this respect.
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