Rob is referring to this position:

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=655187&i=71

...where Axj3!! wins. Can anyone demonstrate that checkmate?

Mate threats supercede all others, and black has them at every turn.

Chessmaster1000: not me, for sure!

Now this is what I call being in a tough position!

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=655187&i=88

Contact me privately and I will disclose what I can as I am bound by the terms of a contract.

Hi again,

Well the webmaster is passed out, sleeping right now, after working all night to get it ready.

I see Mattolin was on earlier.

Register another name, you will be able to get in right away!

The new live site is up and running today.

I think there are 20 moves that are the only winning moves in that ending. And I think 2. Kf5 is one of them, giving away the draw otherwise. I will have to load the ending and check out the solution.

Someone asked me for this link recently, showing the longest win where an Archbishop and Pawn can win over the Archbishop.

http://www.gothicchess.org/kapka/game.htm

What is coming

[Note this link will take you to a site outside BrainKing ... mod approval for ad granted ... WQ :]

I know that ChessCarpenter had just finished playing 9 rounds of chess at the World Open over the 4th of July weekend. He did this without taking any time off of work. The playing schedule plus other demands on his time were exhausting.

Upon returning he was now faced with a very tough finals section of top-notch players.

Just try to put this all in perspective before rushing to judgement.

Another tournament ended today that has some very interesting games.

http://brainking.com/en/Tournaments?tri=3432

Note there is a "0" next to my name, as I lost a game to Andreas Kaufmann during the course of that 3-wins match. Andreas played an outstanding game with a surprising Chancellor sacrifice to win it at the end.

I was "motivated" more than ever after that loss, and the final game of the match ended with a very complex Queen sacrifice, taking many moves to turn into a positional gem.

I would like to thank Andreas for pushing me to my limits and playing outstanding games.

http://brainking.com/en/Tournaments?tri=2803

Caissus gets a free Gothic Chess set for coming in second place. Contact me at GothicChessInfo@aol.com to send me the address to send your prizes.

I was looking forward to some very interesting battles between SMIRF and Rob/George. I am rather disappointed that Reinhard did not play at the time control that was set up for the whole rest of the tournament.

Reinhard has always been looking for notes from good players on how to make his program stronger, and I believe he wasted a very good opportunity.

I enjoy when players "take too long" to move. It allows me to map out how to handle every possible strategical scenario of consequence.

I would have enjoyed seeing how SMIRF did given 96 hours or more to move.

Good luck to Rob and George playing out the remainder of the tournament. I hope you both win

I am not sure I understand what happened. Reinhard resigned because George did not send his first move right away?

Is this correct?

I'll play you online at www.GothicChessLive.com and type notes as we go along.

Gothic Chess "Fischer Clock" tournament.

http://brainking.com/en/Tournaments?trg=9684&tri=48989&trnst=0

Those who are eligible for prizes in the various tournaments I am running, please contact me at GothicChessInfo@aol.com with your address information so they can be mailed out to you.

White to move and play Qxg6!!

White pawns: j2,i2,h2,f2,e2,b2,a2,c3,d4,g3
White rooks: a1, h2
White chancellor: e1
White king: i1
White queen: d3
White knight: h4
White bishop: i4
White archbishop: j5

Black pawns: b7,c7,e7,h7,i7,j7,g6,f6,a6,d5
Black rooks: a8, h8
Black chancellor: e8
Black queen: d7
Black archbishop: e6
Black knight: c6
Black bishop: h6
Black king: i8

The idea: Qxg6!! hxg6? Bxg6+ Kj8? Ni6+! jxi6 Axi6#

I played a very interesting Queen sac in Gothic Chess at the World Open in the skittles room. It was a very crowded board, looking for all intents and purposes like an normal middlegame.

I sacked a Queen for a pawn, checked with a Bishop, the sacked a Knight for no material, to mate with an Archbishop next.

It was pretty cool

I consider Andreas Kaufman the best positional player on this site in the game of Gothic Chess. He gives me more trouble than anyone else.

Chessmaster1000:

The skill sets are transportable. What chess player needs to "start over" to learn Gothic? None: the initial representation and the new piece movement descriptions are all that are needed to get going.

What Gothic player cannot play on the less ornate tactical field of 8x8 chess?

Again, everybody can, so there is some intersection of these two sets regarding skill.

As I have stated previously, I believe overplaying one and not the other is the only way to have a diminished capacity in the underplayed game.

Playing a healthy balance of each will have positive benefits in each.

As an example... how many "chess players" with the white pieces would move their Queen which is under attack by the Black Knight in this position?

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=821982&i=30

From seeing so many blatant assaults against the kingside work, I just let the Queen hang, then parked a Knight in front of a pawn on the next move, all for "positional compensation".

A very advanced topic, a very complex position, but one I would never have embarked upon without previous lessons learned.

ColonelCrockett:

That same question was asked during the chess.fm internet radio broadcast.

I think one of the positive benefits that Gothic Chess will impart to a regular chessplayer is an increase in your own "breadth of consideration" as you examine tactical possibilities. For example, Vortex has taught me that, on occasion, sacrificing a minor piece for only two pawns can be very disruptive to a kingside position. As a result of seeing such exchanges work, and some that fail, I refined my own definition of the plausible "kingside attack".

Adding this to my own human "pattern recognition database" has allowed me to see similar 8x8 attacking patterns that I would normally have pre-screened and not even considered. How many times when we are defeated by some shot do we say "I was not even considering that?" Gothic Chess can cure some of this, in my opinion.

There will be some negative impact on your chess skills if you play too much Gothic Chess and stay away from the 8x8 board. On more than one occasion, ChessCarpenter and I would play blindfold chess games as we would be going on road trips to places that would take a few hours to reach. Invariably, at some point in the game, I am thinking pieces are on their "Gothic Squares" and Rob would pounce on my inaccuracies.

There have been no long term studies, but it seems that:

1. Playing Gothic Chess will widen your horizons and help your tactical abilities.

2. There is probably little benefit in the area of "8x8 chess strategy" since the games are so different.

3. Too much of one and not the other will lead to a decline in your play of the under-utilized game.

Hi Michael,

Wish I could have been there, sounds like everyone had a great time. Maybe next year I can give a Gothic Chess simul or something like that?

Let me know!

It should be noted that I was guest of chess.fm because of the request to have me on the show by those same listeners. When NM Dan Heisman contacted me originally he said "Do you think there is enough interest to sustain 20 minutes worth of questions?" and I really was not sure.

After 30 minutes of "Gothic Chess only", Tony Rook signalled that we should take a break. During the break commercials from sponsors were aired and they went over the tabulation of chess-specific questions to Gothic Chess-specific ones. The margin was heavily in favor of continuing, as there were about 50 unanswered questions in pipeline.

I honestly did not expect it to run the whole hour, but we went down to the wire with questions coming in down to the last second.

Dan issued the commentary to let people know Gothic Chess had not "taken over" chess.fm, that this was one week out of 52 that was dedicated to this variant. After the show, Tony and Dan both disclosed that this was one of the most active question & answer sessions that they had experienced with an "unknown" player (me) and they both thought it was very worthwhile.

I'd like to thank all of those who submitted some of those very interesting questions, and if you have any more, you know how to reach me.

I plugged BrainKing.com a few times tonight on http://www.chess.fm if anyone caught the show. It will be rebroadcast during the week. Look for the "Renaissance Man" feature with Dan Heisman, and just turn on your speakers.

I think they do occasional rebroadcasts as well, I will ask Dan.

Next Thurday night at 9 PM Eastern I will be the guest speaker on chess.fm radio.

If you go to http://www.chess.fm just turn on your computer's speakers, and you can hear the broadcast.

We have pictures taken from the Alexis Skye vs. Claude Jeruchim Gothic Chess games today. A very interesting match that drew a big crowd at the resteraunt at the bottom of the Empire State Building

6'4 Alexis Skye has agred to be our new Gothic Chess supermodel.

http://alexisskye.com/gothic_chess/new%20pic%20with%20heel%20and%20ruler%202.jpg

She is about 6'10 with the heels on.

Now here is something interesting. Since all of the conversation that happened in the German board, I have 5 orders for Gothic Chess sets from that country alone. Usually we get 1 about every 3 days from Germany, not 5 in a 48 hour span.

So thanks guys, keep up the good work, lol.

It does not matter if a product is talked about badly or not, just if it is talked about... I keep trying to tell you that. Keep hammering away at Gothic Chess, I'll keep selling

As I read the German board, I see there was a request for Janus Chess discussion. I posted this link to start things off:

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=417877

And the link disappeared. I am not sure why.

Looks like Andreas is the new "man to beat" these days

Since the 10x8 board has merged with other boards, and since there is a live site alternative only for players of Gothic Chess, the

Gothic Chess Steamrollers

... fellowship has ammended its doctrine to also serve as the conduit for requests for live games.

This will alleviate the need to use this board for requests for live games, but at the expense of requiring membership in the fellowship. This will exclude pawns from being able to post announcements or make requests for games, but it will reduce the load on the DB here.

So, for all those who are interested, send me a request to join the fellowship, post requests for live games within the fellowship, and I will look for you all there.

---------

This fellowship has three primary purposes:

1. To post announcements for requests to play live games at http://www.GothicChessLive.com


2. To create a very strong Gothic Chess team for the playing of team tournaments.

3. To offer an alternative discussion board to discuss Gothic Chess tactics, strategies, openings, and endings.

This is a "high octane" fellowship catering to the true Gothic Chess junkie.

Sumerian: Hi Reinhard,

One thing that is very interesting is SMIRF's handling of the opening. It "has no fear" so it plays moves that appear unusual to a human, but as it has verified with its search that material is not lost within its horizon, we (humans) have to be careful about handling these positions!

I found myself down a pawn and in a disorganized retreat, and I had to rely on "tricks" to turn things around. From this I learned a few things:

1. There are tactical opportunities in the opening that I have obviously been overlooking.

2. Just developing "for the sake of developing" is clearly not good enough. In the overall scheme of things, getting more pieces in play is the best choice over 90% of the time, but S.M.I.R.F. was able to make the most of its chances with selective deployment of its pieces.

3. Apparently strong kingside attacks can be carried out with just 2 Knights if the opponent's pawn structure surrounding the castled king has been compromised only slightly. This is something that is virtually impossible in chess that is not only possible as in our game, but could be a theme to underwrite an entire strategy. Aiming long-range pieces at the castled King while "waiting" to push pawns to release their full force (as your e3 and Ae2 moves accomplished) could be an interesting, previously untried strategical motiff.

I will have to figure out how to deal with this in my own home preparation

Thanks for a great game.

1.d3 g5?!

The point of this unusual first move is that if 2. Bxg5? then 2...Bxb2 wins The Exchange of Rook for Bishop. If 1. d4 instead, then this ...g5 "trap" cannot be played.

2.g3 Nh6

Usually I play 2...h6 to support the over-extended g-pawn.

3.Nj3?! Nc6

S.M.I.R.F. had completed an 11-ply search and was starting on ply 12. I guess it did not like Nh3 with the idea that ...g4 could chase it.

4.c4 d6 5.Qa4

An interesting move choice by white, aimed at winning a pawn with Bxc6 bxc6 then Qxc6. I thought maybe S.M.I.R.F. is expecting ...Bd7 so I played something else to test this.

5...Bg7 6.Nc3

If 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Qxc6 I had planned on 7...Bd7 8. Q(g2 or h1) Af6 then castling with some compensation for the pawn.

6...Af6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.Ne4!

This is better than 8. Qxc6, and S.M.I.R.F. wins the weakened g-pawn now.

8...Ad4 9.Nxg5 O-O 10.h3 Bd7 11.Ni5

An interesting position. White has 2 Knights on the 5th rank (i5 and g5) and a Queen on a4, with nothing else in play. Black has all of the minors developed to good posts, and Archbishop that is a little "out there" but with excellent retreating destinations that only improve its location, and is castled. At this point I made a "strategic move" without thinking tactically at all. I played the pawn push to follow instantly, which revealed the Bishop to hit on White's Queen, and I carelessly thought "this was all that mattered." S.M.I.R.F. was able to prove me wrong.

11...c5? 12.Qd1!

What a difference seeing a move being made does for your positional clarity! The j7 pawn will now come into range of the Queen on d1. With the e-pawn push, my Archbishop must retreat, and White gains another "free move" to compound the attack against j7 by adding the White Archbishop to e2. Black needs to pull a rabbit out of the hat to get back into this game.

12...Cf6 13.e3 Ae5 14.Ae2 i6

Black's play was pretty much forced. The i-pawn push reduces the scope of the threat against j7, but it also weakens the kingside pawn structure tangibly.

15.f4

Such a move, which hits on the Archbishop, is an obvious first reaction. I did not think this was best here. I was worried about my kingside being destroyed with 15. Nxj7!? Nxj7 16. Nxi6!? hxi6 and Black would have to play very accurately to marshall the resources necessary for a satisfactory defense. I have the threat of ...Axg3+! going for me since the Chancellor in the f-file pins the pawn, but at fast time controls, I have no idea how such a line will play out.

15... Ac6

And now my Archbishop surveys the board from an excellent post.

16.g4 Nj5 17.Ag3

I remember my discussions with Reinhard about the value of his pieces. My thinking at this point: his 2 knights are strong, and the game is far from needing Rooks in open files to control the endgame. Would S.M.I.R.F. trade 2 Knights for a Rook + Pawn? I think it will, so I play...

17...Kj8 18.Nixh7+ Rxh7 19.Nxh7+Cxh7

...and I am correct. Black liquidated White's strong assets and gets an easier game. Now I can focus on setting traps.

20.Ai4 Bi5 21.Cc2

In the sum of all of my experience, I have never seen Cc2 for White or Cc7 for Black lead to "promising play". In the "old days" of the first Gothic Chess Live site, back in 2000, ChessCarpenter (Rob Colanzi) handed me my first defeat ever by forcing my Chancellor onto c2. Now, such a "general statement" as "Cc2 is bad" is of course, oversimplified, but in all of my games, I have noticed that when a Chancellor is able to be deployed to the Kingside FIRST, things always go much better for that player. By heading towards the Queenside first, the Chancellor tends to be under-utilized.

21...Ki8 22.Bd2 Nh4 23.Be1 Nxi2?! 24.Bxi5

The first part of the "trap". Black loses the Bishop for just a pawn.

24... Qh8! 25.Bj6 Cxh3!!

And now my Queen is hanging as well! Hopefully the plan is too deep for S.M.I.R.F. to see. The "patient" move 26. Qe2 is best so that if 26...Ng3+ the Bishop can still retreat and play 27. Bxg3.

26.Bxh8

S.M.I.R.F. grabs the Queen, which is hard to resist.

26...Ng3+!! 27.Axg3 Cxg3+ 28.Kf2 Ch3+ 29.Kf1 Af3!!

At one point S.M.I.R.F. ran through 18 plies of search and scored the position as a repetition draw, but the whole point of the attack was to get my Archbishop into play.

30.Bj6 Ah2+!!

The role of the Archbishop was not to just capture the Queen with ...Axd1, but worsen the position of the White King first.

31.Ke1 Bxg4!!

This functionally ends the game.

32.Rf1 Bxd1 33.Rxd1 Rg8 34.Cxh2Cxh2 35.Rd2 Cj3

And the rest is just technique.

36.Bf2 j5 37.Ke2 Rg2 38.a3 Cg3+ 39.Ke1 Cf3+ 40.Kd1
Rxj2 41.Rc2 i5 42.b4 cxb4 43.axb4 i4 44.Ra2 i3 45.Ke2
Rxf2+ 46.Rxf2 Cg1+ 47.Kd2 i2 48.Ra1 Cxa1 49.Rxi2+ Kj7 50.Re2 Cb1+ 51.Kc2 Cxb4+ 52.Kc3 Cb1+ 53.Kc2 Ca3+ 54.Kd2 j4 55.Rj2 Ca2+ 56.Ke1 Cxj2 0-1

Sumerian:

Thanks for the game Reinhard. It was interesting in that Black (my side) had, on the surface, what everyone would identify as a "lead in development" at first glance, yet White (S.M.I.R.F.) was uncastled with fewer pieces in play, yet stood better in my opinion (after I reviewed the game.) There were some interesting "passive sacrifices" by Black where a Bishop was left hanging "on purpose", as well as a Queen. These were more akin to "traps" rather than tactically sharp play, but again, they added to the interest of the game.

I will add my notes a little later.

Well I was almost going to send a PM to Fencer to ask him where the resign button was, but I found it

You can print out any games, they are not copyrighted.

http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=597649

Note the sacrifice of the Chancellor at the end.

Chessmaster1000:

Thanks for the notes George. I have not looked at the games yet.

Please recall version 1.0.9 is rather old. Version 1.2 is out now, and this one probes the endgame tablebases as it searches as well.

http://www.GothicChess.org/vortex.zip is the link to the one with the 3-piece tablebases. I believe you also have the version with the 4-piece tablebases.

While the match results are interesting, Version 1.0.9 is no longer being improved, and results against version 1.2 (and later) are the only ones that would be helpful.

Sumerian: Is your Gothic Vortex even still subject for improvements (beside of providing more looking-up information)?.

The evaluation function for Gothic Vortex is very primitive as well. It has a few innovations. Some of these have been around for a while, but here is what I think is unique:

1. Sliding scale weight for the "Supermajors" (Queen, Chancellor, Archbishop).

The values for these pieces are not "constant", they change during the phase of the game. The Archbishop gets weaker as the game progresses, the Chancellor gets stronger, then weaker, and the Queen slowly gets stronger.

2. Pawn Races - The program can play ANY king and pawn ending properly, even with just a 3-ply search. This makes it strong in the endgame.

3. Castling awareness - Castling is not just a "straight bonus", it evaluates whether or not the opponent is castling into danger.

I have changed the evaluation function since the 2004 Computer World Championship, but this was mostly bug fixes.

For exmaple, in some of the wins that Chessmaster emailed to me, there were obvious bugs regarding king safety that had the program think it was ahead as much as +400 when really it was -200.

I have long since fixed this bug (4 months ago) and Chessmaster1000 has not sent me any wins since that time.

I have introduced something else that might have disasterous effects, but it only an experimental version for now. I am trying to teach Vortex how to play like me. It is not easy to do! I am using some of my games on BK as an example, but no matter how long I let Vortex think, it just does not want to make sacrifices like I do.

When I figure out how to code this, I will release the new version. For now, the latest and greatest version is at:

http://www.GothicChess.org/vortex.zip

Sumerian: HI Reinhard,

Thanks for playing, it was a good game. I felt that the lead changed hands a few times as we played this one.

At 8. Bxh6+ ixh6 White is better, and 9... 0-0? surely is a mistake given that the i-pawn is not there to sheleter the King. The problem is, how does one go after this weakness most efficiently?

As soon as I played 10. f4 I knew this was not the best. I block a diagonal that leads to the weakened area of your board, and I prevent my Chancellor from being able to become effective more quickly.

But SMIRF really hung in there, and even turned things around, nullifying any attempt by me to create tactical chances.

So...it was time to get strategic... what to do?

For one I had to get Archbishops off the board, my own vulnerability in the vicinity of h3 was becoming a problem that SMIRF was exploiting well. I think a timely ...Qd7 was called for, but it never happened.

15. Rb1? was a mistake by me, I should have played 15. i3 and held the pawn that dropped right afterwards.

22. Kj1? was more of a "confession" that I didn't know what to do rather than a mistake, but since we were playing quickly, I had not time to reflect. A grandmaster once said "If you do nothing, do it well!" so that is what I tried to do.

24. Rg5?!? is purely cavalier, and an attempt to complicate matters. I did not know if I was digging my own grave, but I surely had a shovel in my hand.

What happened next is entertaining, and I will let the rest of you enjoy it.

I fully expect Chessmaster1000 to tell me all the reasons why this was a bad move, because I deserve it!

This game represents a new opening idea that has not been seen as of yet on here, I believe.


[Event "GothicChessLive.com"]
[Site "Philadelphia, PA"]
[Date "2005.05.07"]
[White "GothicInventor"]
[Black "Mattolin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB


QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. h4 e5
2. g3 d6
3. Nh3 h6
4. Bg2 Nc6
5. Ah2 Nj6
6. Nc3 Be6
7. d3 f5
8. Be3 g6
9. O-O Bg7
10. f4 Aj5?
11. Ni5!! Axg2+?
12. Cxg2 hxi5
13. fxe5 Nxe5
14. Bxi7 Ng4!?
15. Af3 Bh6
16. Bxh6+! Nxh6
17. hxi5 Nhi4
18. Ah4 g5
19. Ag6+ Kg7
20. Axe8+ Rxe8
21. ixj6 g4

{setting up Qxj2# if white fell asleep}

22. Ch4! Ri8
23. Qg1 Bf7?
24. Qd4+ Kf8
25. Ch7+ Ke7
26. Qf6+ 1-0

Sumerian, Mattolin, BradJr, DueThought, and GothicInventor are all on GothicChessLive right now.

http://www.GothicChessLive.com

What happened to all of the messages? This morning it showed "51 new" but there are none here. A bug?

[Event "Gothic Chess Live Debut"]
[Site "Philadelphia, PA"]
[Date "2005.05.03"]
[White "GrosPaul (Spirou on BrainKing)"]
[Black "GothicInventor (Ed Trice)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB

QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. f4 d5
2. g3 Ah6
3. Nc3 d4
4. Ne4 Nc6
5. Nh3 Nj6
6. c3 g6
7. Bf3 Bg7
8. e3 dxc3
9. bxc3 O-O
10. j4 Ni4
11. Ng5 j6
12. Ni5 Nxg5
13. fxg5 Axg5
14. Bj7+ Kj8
15. Bi8 Cf6+
16. Af2 h5
17. Nh7+ Rxh7
18. Bxh7 Bxi2

0-1

[Event "Gothic Chess Live Debut"]
[Site "Philadelphia, PA"]
[Date "2005.05.03"]
[White "ChessCarpenter (Rob Colanzi)"]
[Black "GothicInventor (Ed Trice)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Claude Jeruchim and Dmitry Goldberg"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqckabnr/pppppppppp/10/10/10/10/PPPPPPPPPP/RNB



QCKABNR w KQkq - 0 1"]

1. f4 d5
2. e4 dxe4
3. Cxe4 Af6

{It should be noted that this was just a casual game to initiate the game site. Rob certainly is playing these moves to demonstrate his happiness at getting the new live site in place.}

4. Cg3 Nh6
5. Nh3 Ah4
6. Cd3 Bg4!

{A very interesting position that has no 'regular chess' counterpart. The flight squares for the Queen have been exhausted. Somebody needs to tell Ed this is just a fun game, he is playing way too seriously.}

7. Qe1 Axe1
8. Cxe1 Nc6
9. c3 Bf5

{Black takes a stab at setting up a murderous check with ...Bd3+ but it will never happen, of course.}

10. d4 Cd6
11. Nd2 Ng4

{It is hard to tell if Ed is now joining in on the 'merriment' or if he is planning something. The game is being played at a fast enough pace, about 10 seconds per move on both sides, so who knows ?}

12. g3 Ch6
13. Bxc6

{More cavalier play from Black's side of the board, for a change, and now we see White taking steps to get back into the game. Rob gains a much needed tempo, functionally trading the Bishop for the minor, but more importantly, the forced move. Everyone is expecting the immediate ...bxc6, but Ed has something else in store.}

13...Ci4?!?

{It is hard to qualify the merit of this move with an on-the-spot assesment. Of course Nxh2+ Axh2 Cxh2+ is being threatened, and even so, h2 can be defended easily enough. The game has taken on an interesting character from the guise of casual, carefree play to one of growing interest, move by move.}

14. Cf3 bxc6
15. Ng5!

{A momentum shift favoring Rob's positional merit. Of course, the threat of Nxh7+ is idle with Black's Bishop holding h7, and White has no pawns to displace it from this post. Just when you think you know what is coming next, you should be prepared for anything when sitting across the board from Ed.}

15...Nxh2+?!
16. Axh2 Cxi2!

{OK, we are both confused by this sequence of events. Trading the Knight for 2 pawns plus a trashed Kingside is not the only point to consider. White will get some counterplay, won't he?}

17. Aj3 Qd5!!

{The subtle point that is not easy to grasp. 17...Cj4 looks to hold down the fort with the threat to the Archbishop and the revelation of the Bishop to hit the Rook, but after the game Black shows an incredible line where White can draw.}

18. Axi2 Bxi2
19. Ch2 Bxj1
20. Nxh7+ Kg8
21. Nxj8 Bc8!

{What a fantastic combination on White's part, yet the well timed, complete retreat of the Black Bishop assures that the scales are tipped favorably to him. This has become a great boxing match!}

22. c4 Qxd5
23. Ce2! Qd3
24. Ke1! Be6!

{Rob is not relenting in the least. Hoping that Ed would trade his Queen to stop Cxe7+ was the best defensive plan for White. The task of finding ...Be6 as the interefering piece was delegated to Black.}

25. Ce4 i5!

{An odd looking move that is full of purpose. Room is made for the Black Bishop, and ...Bi7 will recover the Knight.}

26. Kf2 Bi7
27. Ni6 jxi6
28. b3 Rd8
29. Kg2 g5!
30. fxg5 Bh8!

{A second strong retreating move, this time by a diffrent Bishop. The Rook on a1 is now the target of the Bishop's long range rifle scope.}

31. Rb1 Bc3
32. g6! Kf8!
33. gxf7 Bxf7
34. Cf4

{Rob has a plethora of annoying moves at his disposal as he sets up a disjointed fortress position of sorts. The pieces exert strange protecting influences over one another, frustrating any attempt by White to end the game more quickly.}

34...Qc2!
35. Ce2 Bxd2
36. Ra1 Qd1
37. Cf2 Bxc8
38. Cxd1 Rxd1

0-1

Sorry everyone, you must rejoin this tournament to play for the free version of Gothic Vortex

http://brainking.com/en/Tournaments?trg=8694&trnst=0

Tell him to sign on tomorrow, I will look for him. P.S. Our board sales are up like 20%, what is going on?