Should have been easy

Late Thursday night during a thunderstorm, I played a few three minute games online. Two draws from dead lost positions became lessons in elementary endings to end the spring term for my before school elementary chess club.

In the first, my opponent ran desperately short of time in a bishop ending where he had an significant advantage in number of pawns. After promoting a pawn and using the queen to capture my last pawn, he had a forced checkmate in seven, but only 4.0 seconds left.

Black to move

50...Qe4+

My opponent opts for a sequence where premoves can be played to save time.

50...Qc7 leads to mate in six moves more.

51.Kd6 f4 52.Kc5 f3 53.Kd6 f2 54.Kc5 f1Q

A second queen appears and 3.0 seconds remain on the clock. It is also forced mate in three. Black has done well and should win.

There are two schools of thought on this position:
1) a decent player resigns in such a hopeless position, and
2) its is foolish to resign in a blitz game when your opponent has three seconds left.

55.Kd6

Black to move

What should a player know about checkmate with two queens?

From the hardest position against a lone king, it is mate in four. Checkmate can occur in the middle of the board. Checks are often the best move.

Most players, however, seem to think the ladder mate is simplest and therefore best. In this case, it can be accomplished with premoves.

55...Qff5

This move does not get closer to checkmate. That is, mate is still three moves in the future.

55...Qf6+ executes an easy ladder mate unless White opts for 56.Kc5 Qfc6#
I would probably play 55...Qa6 in a heartbeat.

56.Kc7 Qee6 57.Kd8

Black still has 2.8 seconds remaining and a simple mate in one.

57...Qff7??

The premove squandered half a point.

The second undeserved draw had gross errors by both players. Time was a less critical factor with both having more than half a minute on the clock.

White to move

58.Rh6??

I would play 58.Rb6

One of very few non-winning moves in this simple rook ending.

58...Rh1+ 59.Kg4 Rg1??

Black here is stuck in unimaginative routine moves that were wholly unnecessary when simply calculation shows that 59...Rxh6 draws easily.

60.Kf4 Rf1+

White to move

I started with this position with the young students, explaining that moving the king towards the rook puts an end to harassing checks. Ke4-d3-e2 (or f6+ if the rook gives up the checks).

61.Ke5 Re1+ 62.Kf4 Rf1+ 63.Kg4 Rg1+

At this point the game is technically drawn, as a repetition is about to occur. It is sad that a player rated in the mid-1900s does not know how to win this ending.

64.Kh5 Rh1+ 65.Kg4 Rg1+ drawn by repetition.